After the first poem, there were several other gifts from the crowd downstairs, but I had categorically turned them down, which made the first two older ladies even more smug. After all, they were the only ones that had been 'given face' while the others failed.

Of course, that was once again based on my request. I had made it clear to the waitress that I wouldn't receive any more gifts from their customers on the lower floor. The first one, I accepted to further my disguise, and my choice of poem made it very clear that it was a show of respect for the city itself rather than the other customers.

Accepting others would have been lucrative with my Freeloader System, but I didn't want to settle for it and end up like some kind of performer. The System was very insistent about valuing the gifts of the strong over the weak.

I just needed to maximize that benefit.

Honestly, I was still mulling over the words of that mysterious voice. This was supposed to be punishment, that much was clear … but how I had absolutely no idea. Even if this new world was more dangerous than I could ever imagine, it still felt like a reward.

I shrugged and returned my attention to what was important. People in the teahouse.

After refusing the other gifts from downstairs categorically, their frequency of gossip only increased further, their guesses getting wilder and wilder. I was happy to notice the guesses about being a Martial Arts master disappeared completely, focusing more on scholarly guesses, like traveling alone to experience the world.

There were no other gifts for the next hour. I expected it would be for the night, which didn't surprise me too much. It was just the first night, and the gossip needed some time to spread.

That changed when the discussion was cut like a knife. Curious, I looked down, and saw two women enter. Their gazes might as well be daggers as they looked at each other. Both of them had been dressed expensively, though their details were different.

One of the ladies was muscular and surprisingly tanned, with a few burn marks on her arms she displayed proudly. She was tall for a woman, almost six feet, and she had a sense of presence. Late twenties, but aged very well — though she might be even older based on her cultivation slowing her aging.

She was wearing pants and a tunic, but there was no hiding their expensiveness. Though, while she was tall and strong, it would be a sin to call her manly. Her curves left no doubt about that.

Her sense of fashion contrasted with the other women, who preferred loose robes and dresses. Such a strong diversion from social norms had to mean that she was someone with some kind of power, especially combined with the reaction of the others.

Interesting, but not as interesting as her furious expression as she looked down at the other woman who came with her, who was a blonde woman with a lithe figure, beautiful. She looked demure, but I didn't miss the tense looks the crowd was throwing her way either.

Two dangerous women.

They climbed the second floor immediately, making the waitresses burst into action, their panic and excitement furthering my guess about their social status. They were too important to visit such an establishment.

My plan was working faster than I expected. Dangerous, but I smiled.

The way they looked at each other, one smug, the other angry, gave me the impression that they were friendly rivals, and they had some kind of friendly challenge about me.

I hid my smirk. It wouldn't be the first time I was the subject of a bet between two rich ladies. It was faster than I expected, which meant I wasn't fully prepared, but with their attitude, I could play them against each other.

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As long as they were willing to buy my attention.

Outwardly, I continued reading the book, not paying attention to their arrival even as they had been led to a private room, while the kitchen burst into action, bringing them several trays of food and drinks.

The smell was enough to reveal them as Mortal Grade food, mostly Low and Medium, with some High Grade mixed in, though the amount of essence they contained was harder to determine. I recognized them easily, even at a distance. An unexpected benefit of the cooking lessons I learned from Marana. I sighed, hoping that she had escaped successfully after my warning.

The food delivery made me even more enthusiastic. To request food made from savage beasts, they had to be martial artists. More importantly, their cultivation was likely not low.

While the delivery continued, I listened to the gossip, which revealed their identity. Lannayin, one of the premier blacksmiths of the town, and Elsana, a famous apothecary. Though, the discussion that was going on downstairs showed that they were famous for two things. Being unmarried, and always competing for prestige.

The gossip lacked any suggestion of having a lot of lovers … which was interesting. I wondered exactly what they had in mind for their presence.

I thought about rejecting when a waitress finally arrived and conveyed their invitation, hoping for even more hype, but one thing stopped me. Listening to gossip, it was clarified that Lannayin had an explosive temper, enough to make people bet on what she would do if I refused the offer.

I decided not to test it.

"Ladies, I thank you for your invitation. It's an honor for a poor scholar like me," I said once I entered the room, bowing and gesturing as a greeting … keeping it perfect to convey that, I didn't come from a family that was superior to them. It was a calculated display of weakness.

I still remember the first hunter I had met, and how he triggered nothing because he was afraid of consequences of insulting me. I didn't want them to flatter the mysterious force behind me, and ruin the whole point of my acting.

It helped that having a lower status compared to them still left me quite a bit of wiggle room about my fictional background. Just by the food they consumed, it was clear that they were strong Martial Artists, and their respective crafts were highly respected.

"No need to waste words. Sit down and join our feast," Lannayin said, her attitude dismissive even as she gestured. From her attitude, I could see that it was her general attitude and not some kind of calculated disrespect.

"As rough as always, my friend. You should learn how to talk, and not to insult a refined scholar," Elsana said before turning at me. "My apologies. My friend can be rough, but she means well," she added, defending and insulting her friend at the same time.

Interesting friendship.

"Truth of the world lies in action, not words," I said, accepting her apology in a cool, scholarly manner, playing my role perfectly. However, even as I greeted them as my social superiors, I didn't bother waiting for them to insist before I sat down and reached for a Mid-Mortal dish.

What food to reach was a surprisingly complicated decision. I was tempted to reach a High-Grade one, excited by the return multiplier, but a decent portion of High-Mortal food was made of savage beast meat, essence dense enough to satiate a starving Peak-Initiate completely, and I clearly wasn't starving.

No need to exaggerate the situation too much.

Instead, I reached Middle-Grade one, which implied that I was at least an Intermediate-Initiate Martial artist, potentially an Advanced one.

It wasn't a random thought. After all, traveling alone was dangerous, and I needed to have some kind of assurance to dare to move alone, especially since I didn't have any visible weapons, yet dared to walk around without guards.

Of course, for a commoner, reaching the Advanced stage in their early twenties was a significant achievement, the same didn't apply to the child of a rich family. They could pay for more resources, and anything less than Peak-Initiate was ordinary.

A suitable compromise between prestige and keeping myself reasonably harmless in their perspective in case their strength wasn't too high.

The moment I touched it, the System gave me a reward.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 30; Pity Bonus - 5]

[35x Return - Golden-Deer Stew, Mortal Peak-Grade]

Well, that was clearly not a requirement, I realized as I noticed the multiplier. They were strong, either at Peak Skin Refinement, or actually at Bone Forging — which one I didn't know due to the System's unclear methodology.

They didn't pity me much, but that was not a bad thing. Unless they were as soft-hearted as Marana, they wouldn't interact with someone they pitied intensely. My current situation as a 'struggling' rich kid due to some kind of family issues was just right.

"Well made," I complimented as I ate the stew slowly even as I looked for other dishes to target.

"You look like you have traveled for a long time," Elsana commented. "Why don't you tell us some stories?"

"Of course," I answered. "Once upon a time, I was in a ship called Black Pearl, with an enterprising yet weird captain called Sparrow…"