Rengiward noticed the sudden arrival of two people he feared to see to some extent. He and his company were sitting on one side of the table, eating and drinking to their fill. This sumptuous meal went from the pockets of their leader, Reez Dias, so none of them could complain about anything. In fact, most of them were more than happy to eat in this rather lofty place. Especially the pair of big brothers who ate as a big group on their own.

Rengiward coughed up the piece of meat from his throat, surprised as he suddenly saw the pair in the distance he recognized. Of course, he still remembered the precious deal back then. It left him in a wondering state, but as a professional merchant, he would never put his fingers where they shouldn't belong. That didn't mean he was reluctant to dig deeper into the matter before, but considering the current circumstances, he was afraid of this mission. It involved something otherworldly for sure since the deal with Zigmund was outside of normalcy. As a merchant, he made sure to work by due standards, making it as private and professional as possible.

The current moment and time were a completely different situation. Even though he knew this restaurant was owned by his goal this mission, he still chose this location for eating since it was quite good. Who would have thought he would see the daughter of his target? Not him, even though it was a possibility. He at least knew from the past that Zigmund didn't personally care about this restaurant, which caused him to choose this place without fear.

“What is it? Are you good, Rengiward?” Dias asked, noticing the coughing chubby man.

“Oh yea, yes.” he cleared his throat with more coughing. “I just swallowed a rather tough piece of meat. It is good now.” He explained after finding a good enough excuse. There was no need to trouble this pair of youngsters since they shouldn't be involved in whatever this is.

“Come on, brother! Let's wash it down with a pint of beer!” The big fella, in a good mood, barged to his side. It was one of the brothers, who was keen on the beer, while the other was quenching his thirst on the opposite side of the table. Either wine or pulled pieces of pork was his pleasure.

“I am good!” Rengiward said in helplessness, but another glass of beer was left involuntarily in his hand. It was already 3rd one since their arrival, and he couldn't help but take it.

Reez Dias observed the man from his other side, looking at the distinct nervousness that he tried to hide. He did notice something strange with him since he has a keen eye for such things. The cause?The arrival of someone who entered this floor.

All he could see was a simple boy in rough clothes with bandages around his face. It wasn't anything strange, nor something that he found strange. That was only what he could notice by his appearance, but a strange staff he hold piqued his interest. He used it like a walking pole, and Dias could tell it wasn't the normal kind of wooden staff.

It should be the case since his experiences in the Alliance told him the value of that thing. It wasn't necessarily about the monetary value, but impressiveness! The double-sided staff had some ornamental engravings on each end. They were engraved or put into a piece of flexible, yet tough wood, making it tougher, and strange considering how hard it would be made. Dias wasn't the blacksmith, but that didn't mean he can't know a thing or two about it. As a man of war and power, he couldn't help but be impressed.

Alas, he knew the source of Rendigard's alertness wasn't that weapon. He was sure of this, but couldn't tell the other reasons what else could be the case. Not overthinking it more, Dias returned to enjoying his meal, acting as if nothing happened.

Allan continued walking and reached the part where he walked straight around the edges of their seating. Hearing their talk and noisy laugh didn't make an impression on him, since he valued other people's privacy. Since he had rather good hearing, he either forgot or straight ignored any kind of talking he shouldn't be hearing.

Though, it did cause his sense of direction to shift. Before he knew it, he bumped into a bunch of chairs and tables around the intersection to the left. The chairs and the table shook, causing the chairs and some stuff on the table to fall down right beside their group. Dias noticed the seemingly fake reaction of Rengiward, who acted as if he had seen the empty air. Getting up upon seeing others ignoring this noise, he walked past his half-drunken friend, helping clean up the slight mess that Allan did.

“Oh, I am terribly sorry for what I did, sir.” Allan apologized, noticing the steps and sounds of another person right across from him.

“You blind or what?” Dias said in an unbothered tone.

“I am...” Allan said, as he took the remaining chair up with a single motion of his hand. Those were made from heavy wood, but Dias only furrowed his brows.

“How did you know I was a man?” Dias asked with some speck of doubt.

“It's your steps... It... is a statue of a well-built man. Maybe a soldier? I don't know.” Allan tried to explain himself a little, bowing to say his thanks for this man's help. Upon hearing Dias's dismissive attitude, Allan shifted his body to move into another row of tables, sitting at an empty one. Most of them were empty since it was long after lunchtime.

Dias was slightly surprised by the strangeness of that boy, who acted as if this situation was natural to him.

“Come on! Boss! You have to try this type of beer!” One of the brothers said, noticing his boss standing aside at the table. With a grin on his face, Pier got a new order of beer and he couldn't help but give his boss the first one.

Taking a seat once more, Dias turned his attention to a pint of beer, gulping it down in one sweep.

“Good beer!” Dias shouted, fist-bumping Pier's fist on his right.

Upon doing so, Pier laughed, doing the same as his boss, who turns to his left. “Do you know that boy, Rengiward?” Dias directly asked a man on his left.

“Oh? Ohhh!” Rengiwards acted as if a sudden idea came to his mind. “I guess I've seen him somewhere. in the past. I worked in a lot of places after all, so I must have met him in some of my businesses.” Rengiward mumbled, finding his reasonable answer that would arouse no suspicion. It ended up being successful since Dias forgot this matter in a couple of more minutes. Maybe for the better or worse, who knew?

In a bit of time, Sarey's hooded appearance entered this floor as well.

Before Allan's incident, Rengiward noticed both of them. Unlike Dias, who has only seen Allan upon the Rengiward's changed behavior.

This time, Rengiward was firm with his act, making his appearance as normal as possible. The rather big piece of a pig on his plate acted as a shield against Sarey, who shouldn't notice him in this way. Not like it mattered.

Sarey didn't pay much attention to the other tables, nor the surrounding people. Noticing the seated Allan in the corner, he was her sole purpose and focus. She sat right on his left, cheerful and proud of her accomplished goal.

“How did it go?” Allan asked as he noticed her presence without words.

“We will get a deluxe edition of our main menus. It will be on the house!” Sarey enthusiastically announced.

“Oh? Something fancy looking?” Allan said in surprise.

“You will see!” She said. “Oh... sorry.”

Time went by, and in a couple of dozen minutes, the row of people with plates in their hands entered the second floor. Leading them is a gentlemen-looking man in his middle thirties. Slightly tanned and with a wide, easygoing smile on his clean face, Pedro appears like the boss he is.

“There they go,” Sarey said to Allan, who was waiting for it for almost 20 minutes.

“Hello, mister Pedro.” Sarey got up and bowed to the front-facing man who is smiling before their table. This is a good friend of Zigmund and someone who helped and taught Sarey a way of cooking and working in a restaurant. In fact, she spent quite a bit of time under his tutelage, but not like it was something extremely hard.

“Anyday, Sarey” Pedro said with a smile. “Who do we have on beside the table? A friend of yours?” Pedro asked, indicating to the staff to place the dishes on the table.

“Yes. I wanted to take him to experience your cooking as well as the city.”

“How nice of you. That... coming from you is something nice indeed.” He said with a smirk. Since the time he gained a leading position in this restaurant, he decided on a few things behind Zigmund's back. It was nothing bad in that sense, but a road of improvements in cooking is a neverending journey. After all, the tongue of Man and the stomach of mortals were sometimes hard to satisfy.

It all started by making the restaurant more open to the general public and inviting an atmosphere to go along with it. Changing the orders and meals for a broader audience was also a big deal for more customers. The number of customers and money they made was now increasing on a daily basis, unlike the previous time with Zigmund.

“Thank you for this, Pedro,” Sarey said, going back beside Allan after bumping into his shoulder to begin their feast.

Not too far away from this table, Pier noticed the extravagance of sudden guests a few tables away. There were more things about them than their table.

“Look!” he shouted, elbowing the person to his left. “Boss! What sort of meat is that? They even have a head chef coming to greet them! How nice.” Pier said with his strong voice.

“Calm down, big guy,” Roseanne said from a side as she enjoyed a glass of fine wine. She didn't give a choice to Dias, who wasn't as clear-headed as before.

Their uproar was unfortunately met with the gaze of Pedro, who noticed the sudden piercing shouting from nearby.

“Well. Well. What customers do we have here?” He said, walking from Allan's table and proceeding to stop beside theirs.

“I apologize to my friend. He had quite a few glasses of your precious and delicious beer.” Dias excused his friend, who suddenly got a stomachache from his not-so-pleasant elbow.

“Oh... Tricloud alliance folks... What kind of pleasure do I have? Someone important?” Pedro said with the same tone as before. He long noticed the small emblem of a Tricloud Alliance, and his experience told him those people weren't regular soldiers.

“You are quite informed. We are simply strolling around and meeting at this nice restaurant. It is quite a good one.” Dias said, unbothered by their recognition that wasn't supposed to be that hidden. It's not like they went to enemy territory and having their Tricloud symbol is their pride.

“Then it is all good. I hope you like the taste and enjoy the time. That's the best that a chef can ask for. I hope you won't disturb this floor's standards as well as my friends on that table.” Pedro said, pointing to Allan and Sarey, that were having a feast of their lives. “Have a good rest of the day.” Pedro bowed and returned with his staff back to work.

“Way to go, Pier.” Dias looked at the big man who was like a chicken before him.

“Oh.. oh... I guess I had too much beer to bear.”

“Heheheheheeheh.” His brother laughed upon hearing his joke.

Dias sighed, realizing he was long in a stage of acceptance to go against these brothers.

“What was that meat then?” Pier asked as his stomach calmed down at last.

His colleagues looked at him questionably, and even Dias was a step away to punish him again. The only difference was Roseanne, who answered Pier's wondering question. “I would bet it's a top part of a tail from the Roaring Widegator.”

The rest of them couldn't tell if her statement was true or not. Not one of them was the master of the meat, or knowledgeable enough to understand it.

“Huh? What is this questionable look!” Roseanne's piercing gaze was upon her colleagues. “Are you forgetting that I was a butcher before being in the military?” She said, surprised by her sudden revelation.

Back at the table of Allan and Sarey. Both of them were enjoying the sumptuous meals to the best of their abilities.

Sarey sometimes led Allan to try certain ingredients and plates that he didn't recognize. It was pretty much the same course of action as if they were home. The only difference was the quality, portions, and exotic meal that was presented before Allan. It took them 15 minutes before most of the food was gone, apart from the plates of meat which took the most space from the very beginning.

Instinctively, a burly man appeared in front of their table, glancing at the meat as if it was a treasure. The Tricloud group was already finished with their meal and drinks and were about to leave. Unnoticed by Dias who went to the first floor to sort the bills, Pier had to act fast before he comes back.

“Want some?” Allan placed a long piece of the meaty strip from the Roaring Wideagator right in front of his face. Pier gulped his further increasing saliva with glistering eyes on his face.

“C-can I have some?” He asked, unconvinced by his mistake or Dias's orders.

“Come on, have a seat and try this Wideagator. It is quite fascinating meat.” Allan said with an inviting gesture upon discovering this man's problem. “It almost tastes like the texture of a fish but with a completely different taste of meat.” Allan tried to explain, having already enough meat for a long time. His hunger was gone. Upon hearing this man, he could tell that he was eying their table with honest intentions.

He may as well give something to him, so this won't go to waste.

Sarey glared at Pier but accepted the sudden intruder. It was Allan's idea, and she, too, was already full.

Pier took a seat right beside Allan, trying the meat, and cherished his cheeks with a big smile on his face.

“Good, right?” Allan assumed.

“Wonderful, it makes explosions in my mouth. Thank you.” Pier thanked, taking many following bites before being suddenly picked by the forceful hands of somebody else around his shoulder.

“Hey. Big guy! How about trusting and actually going with the orders of your boss?” Roseanne lifted Pier as if he was a pillow. His face looked quite shocked but happy with the remaining satisfaction of meat.

He almost stumbled away at Roseanne's toss but was soon stabilized by Allan's hand, which countered hers.

“Huh?” She glared at these two youths, unclear about their intentions, but surprised by something. “Excuse my friend here. He wasn't supposed to trouble you in any way. He is rather big, you know... and dumb.” Roseanne let go of her hand, but Pier left their table regardless of that.

“What!?” He shouted, facing Roseanne's unbothered face.“ This boy was generous enough to let me try a few pieces! They tasted anything like their texture and were glorious!” Pier said in his defense, taking the last piece from the plate and shoving it into Roseanne's opening mouth, which was about to tell him something again.

“Umm... hey.. oh... OH! ” She fell stunned for a moment before sparkling eyes appeared on her face as well. It was a shocking taste for her lacking standards. The way they all ate in the military wasn't the greatest, so it was no surprise.

She started to mumble something indistinct under her chewing. “This... meat.. deliciousnessnestsst.”