Forgetting herself and her words, Roseanne returned to her previous self, gulping down the meat as if nothing happened.
“I guess it is good.” She said casually, clearing her throat with some light coughing. “Let's go. Pier. We don't want to wait before Dias is back, am I right?”
Pier looked at the already empty plate, not entirely forgetting about Allan as well. He gave him a big hug and thanked him to the bitter end, leaving the plate alone and empty.
Roseanne stayed a little longer to at least apologize once more for the lack of their customs. It was for her pride, or how could you call the thing that matters for this Tricloud group?
“That is a very nice armor, miss,” Sarey said for the first time since those people appeared.
“Oh. Thank you, girl. Maybe it would look good on you as well. Unlike the tight and hidden look of the hood. Think about it.” Roseanne added before taking her to leave as well. She noticed the young face hidden behind the hood, but it would be impolite to ask her about it. In fact, she was suspicious about her the most, since what kind of kid would wear the hood indoors?
“What a bunch of empty words,” Sarey said, looking at the empty plates, before passing a questionable look at smiling Allan. Although she had more than she should have, it still was rather disheartening to feed others in such a situation.
“Food arrives and goes away. No need to worry about it, since it was absolutely fantastic. Especially that tail meat that you introduced.”
Sighting, “I guess, you are right.” was her simple answer.
Allan's time in this restaurant wasn't bad at all, and considering the last meal he had in the morning, this was welcomed. Both of them felt satisfaction in their stomach as well as the mood which went along with it. It was his first time coming here, and he hoped it wouldn't be the last time for sure. Although, with the time and work in hand, he was unsure about his untold promise. It could take a while to come back here since it wasn't the kind of meal that he could eat every day. Otherwise, he would grow tired of normal meals.
In all these exchanges and time here, Sarey never once noticed the hiding head of a Rengiward, who was hiding behind the chair and piece of pig. Unlike her time, his was spent wondering what he did to the heavens that the target's daughter would be here too. Appearing here at this time, at this moment right as they did too. What a coincidence it was, and Rengiward cursed in his to the bitter end, leaving this 2nd floor with caution not to be recognized.
This was a part of this ordeal, that he was looking forward to the most. He was hoping that things would go much better without the interventions of his daughter, or even that boy who he still didn't understand. Rengiward only hoped they wouldn't be at home, or Dias may have some other intentions regarding Zigmund That, he didn't know, nor would he dare to guess.
Unbeknown to him, things wouldn't go at all as he thought, wished, or expected.
Regardless of his worries, Rengiward left without looking back, forgetting the pair of youths sitting on the 2nd floor. Perhaps this was a minor stumble on his road to greatness? He wasn't sure.
Even upon their disappearance, Sarey was looking at the empty plates. She had a lot of bites of Wideagator, but a few more wouldn't hurt her. After all, this sort of product wasn't something that was available in this region. In fact, it was shipped to this restaurant according to Pedros's intentions of furthering the restaurant's influential meals.
His idea wasn't bad at all, but it all came at a certain price he was willing to pay. When the plate was full, those pieces of Widegator's tail had around 3 kilograms, which was a lot. It came with a price of almost 15 gold which was a staggering amount of money for a single, yet huge piece of meat. Additionally, it was also provided with many side dishes and a choice of unlimited beer or other drinks, making it more worth it for such a price.
“Why did you have to share THAT?” Sarey asks with a dubious look that Allan can't even see or notice. “I doubt they even paid that much for their meal as a whole. This piece of Widegator is worth so much.”
“And I don't care either way.” Allan dismissed her words, gulping down some water to quench his thirst. “I don't know how much worth this meat is, and even then, it's still a meal to be consumed. We were already full, and since that man felt hungry or curious about this, I simply gave some away. Is that wrong?”
“Uh... What a good boy you are...” Sarey sighed, giving up her ideas, and rather thought about what to do next. She still had some things to do and she even left some things aside for other times.
“Oh! I forgot about the important reason for our visit.” Sarey remembered, flashing her hand to her forehead.
Her ideal solution was to check it sooner, but Allan insisted on eating first. It was about the knowledge of the situation around the borders, as well as the potential risks of the Timeless Kingdom. They will come sooner rather than later, and Sarey wanted to know it right now, and not wait for later.
“Heheheheh.” Giggling, she patted Allan's shoulders. “I will lead you somewhere really nice. I have enough to get you there as well.” Sarey said mysteriously, not revealing the thought process of what she wanted to do. However, Allan knew what she meant, and everything indicated some sort of hidden method of enquiring information. Something that Allan heard and knew from his homeworld too.
Getting up, she checked her belongings, which still consisted of quite a stuff. Particularly the Diary of the Body, which was a treasure beyond this world. Although, no one would even guess that such treasure was in hands of mortals, let alone some young girl. Allan finishes his water, grabbing the staff he set aside and that was about it. He had nothing more, apart from his stomach which was never so full in his life. Even after increasing his appetite upon doing this immortal training, he never felt so full. His training significantly increased his vital energy and his consumption of food on daily basis wasn't small at all. Though it wasn't like he noticed much of it, since he ate in long intervals, where the meals were bigger than the last ones.
“Alright. Alright. I am going. So impatient.” Allan complained, noticing Sarey who was stomping the ground in impatience.
Sarey led him to the outside through the first floor after notifying Pedro about her leave. Allan still struggled in this place, but he left it soon afterward. He could tell the entrance apart from everything which was a strange but welcomed moment. It was the place with the least noise.
Pedro prepared for them a one-of-a-kind menu on the premise of Sarey and their relationship. The fact that she was the daughter of Zigmund also played some role in that, since Zigmon was someone he respected. Even making a meal worth 100 gold would pose no issue to him. To a lesser extent, there was also the role of Allan. It was the first time Pedro had seen her so happy with someone else other than her father, or himself. Of course, he would do his best when it comes to her friends.
Walking outside, Sarey felt the unnatural satisfaction after the luxurious meal. She had experienced something like this before, but pairing it up with Allan's share, it was something else indeed.
She had her suspicion about Pedro's involvement and his ideas, but since her father was out of view, it was probably nothing important.
The time that they spent eating wasn't the smallest. Almost an hour later, Sarey led him into the outskirts of the prime venue of the shopping district.
To Allan's surprise, Sarey led him to one of the places he would like to visit. Blacksmithing workshops and weapon-selling shops were one of the most sought places in this city. All of them were either full of people or had lines out of their entrances.
Still, it didn't stop Sarey to let him through these obstacles, and some visits to them were a great addition to this day. Inside of them, nothing much piqued Allan's interest. Noticing and handling the general decent styles and development of these works, he pretty much confirmed to himself they were normal.
Sarey insisted on the full tour of the majority of them to show Allan around to get a bigger picture of his own work. For some reason, Sarey insisted on that for his sake, so he followed behind. Since she was so eager, he went along with it but very few pieces were even remotely close to his father's or his own.
Of course, he also discovered new things. Sarey was at least in a mood of talk in some sense, amounting to telling him about the prices, materials, and monetary value of some swords. The amount of work and money these shops involved were in unknown territories for him. To his surprise, most high-quality pieces were auctioned off in some other places or privately sold to a few wealthy customers.
He couldn't even touch a single weapon that was considered a masterpiece, even after Sarey insisted on only touching them for a moment.
It led to some funny and awkward moments, where Allan grabbed her aside, or she would whine to the shop owners about it. Sarey thought a lot about Allan's point of view since she understand one thing. Allan was a monstrous genius when it came to forging, yet he didn't come to respect his own worth.
His last pieces left an impression that there was something deep within him that he didn't let out too much. It didn't frighten her, since she knew how much the forging meant for him. Only time would tell the significant details of his future since his fate was always questionable with 36's involvement.
Sarey gave up with the shops, and rather led him through the streets. Soon enough, they entered one alleyway in particular which ended in a closed space of few doors between 3 wide buildings. On the right was a regular pub, which shared the building with other businesses that were there. It looked like a big house, built beside each other without any sidewalks between them. Her source of answers regarding the Timeless Kingdom, or something else could be found in this building, where the pub was. Sarey was sure of it, since she visited this place a few times, with almost everyone being different.
Opening the door inside, Sarey led Allan to the barren bar with very few bystanders, or customers. It wasn't the prime time for some beer at the night, so that was understandable.
Almost all of the bystanders looked at the new visitors of this hour with questionable attitudes. Kids weren't generally welcomed here unless they had some sense of footing in such a place.
It has been more than two seasons since Sarey's last visit here, causing the people here to not recognize her. Likewise, Sarey also didn't recognize anyone here. She could tell, the room didn't change much, so she dragged Allan into another room beside the entrance. This one resembled a welcoming opening for a hotel, with better materials of wood, carpet, and paintings. Clearly, this place was also a motel for people to spend their nights.
“What can I do for you, youngsters.” The old man behind a counter said indifferently, turning the pages of some book without lifting his eyes to look at the customers.
“Greetings. I would like to know some information.” She said, leaning beyond the top of the counter. It was quite tall for her.
“Knowledge, or purchase?” The man raised his head, looking at the lady before hew with some hidden surprises. He recognized her from before, or his surprise may be caused by some other things.
“Both I guess.” Sarey pondered for a moment, giving him a simple answer.
“What kind of information.”
“Involvement of the Timeless Kingdom around the borders and war in general.”
“Oh? Those? We have quite daily visitors who are curious about it. Since the case is the general well-being of the region, I will simply charge you an honorary price of 10 gold. You can then proceed to room number 3 on the upper floors.” The old man said with understanding as if he made some sort of a good idea out of it. In fact, he didn't but Sarey wasn't questing the prices. Even with great profits, and businesses booming, there was always a sense of pride and principles in a grand world of money-making. These 10 golds were quite a price, but it was validated by the quality of information. Gold was a valuable asset for the exchange of words and knowledge.
Tossing him a coin, Sarey picked up a letter from the man and grabbed Allan's hand. “Thank you, sir.”
Allan fell more speechless the further he was pulled. He was finding this whole situation familiar with the way underground organizations acted in the city of Waan. Although, with small differences.
Here, a sense of honor and kindness was much more apparent, making it easier and more approachable. It was probably caused by the pride of the people of this region, or because of the state of war.
Finding a door with a letter of 3 on it on the upper floor, the pair walked inside. There was nothing much but a table and 3 chairs, so the pair took a seat on two chairs in the room, facing the table and empty chair. Other than that, the room was nothing in particular apart from these things.
In a couple of minutes, middle-aged gentlemen walked from behind a wall that went further into the corner. It almost appeared to be a hidden door or some kind of emergency exit.
“Good day to both of you, youngsters. So you are interested in a time of the Timeless Kingdom?” the man said, appearing quite serious and talkative. He made no chance for the pair to speak up. “Anything particular on mind, since the whole processing we had to go through, is increasingly more complex day to day.” He said with an unhurried tone, sitting beside the last empty chair.
“How much does Tricloud alliance struggle?” Sarey asked straight to her biggest worry.
“Quite a bit even at the moment. Although there are many reserves on the side of the Timeless Kingdom, making the status quo of our forces is quite questionable. There could be a shift at almost any moment.”
“Is it true that the borders in the north were the least protected? It's the main source of the invasion, so I am fearful of the north.”
“Not at all. There were reinforcements from the Alliance, which led the armies and are currently struggling with each other. It's stabilized but that doesn't mean the other regions aren't.”
Sighting, Sarey took a great note of his words. “Can I ask about the information regarding the Tricloud army?”
“Sure you can. We don't care about spies since the sheer amount of information is impossible to conceal from the bigger hegemons outside of our borders.” The man said.
“Tricloud alliance is in the whole process of the war conflicts after decades of peace. Does the peace of the past lead to the lesser effects of our armies?”
The man frowned, clearly thinking about the right answer. “That may be true, but questions regarding the Alliance's true power aren't something publicly available. And still, there are also Three Tricloud schools behind. Not one paid the power differences much attention until the last minute before the invasion started. It may be too late to even cry over the spilled milk,”
“I see.” Sarey paused and thought about the many questions she had in her mind.
“What about you, young man?” The middle-aged man asked, pointing his interest to the blind boy he had never seen.
“Me? I am a bystander of hers.”
“You can ask about anything as well, Allan,” Sarey added as she further contemplated over her mind.
“Alright then. What is this place?”
“This place? The young man doesn't know that and is willing to walk here like this?”
“Yes,” Allan answered as if the matter of fact didn't even matter.
With a smirk, the man replied with quite a smug expression. “This is a Guild of Questions. We are huge organizations, influential all over the Tricloud region. We are providing all kinds of services regarding information and many kinds of services. One could come to many kinds of shops, or locations where we have our services and ask anything if it's in our power. Of course, the best place to do so is a place like this, which is one of our main buildings.”
“Oh, so it is a spying organization?”
“No. No. No.” the man shook his head. “We are orderly and kind with folk in our ranks that range from all regions. From homeless people to merchants. You name it, we answer.” he said seriously as if his life depended on it.