As Ryuji got back to his room, he breathed a sigh of relief and closed his door. At least he wasn’t robbed twice, he thought as he sat on his bed in utter exhaustion. He then remembered the look on Karen’s face and had to smile. She was so easy to tease. On the other hand, when he thought about it he realized that she didn’t think he was teasing her. Maybe he had a shot with her, after all, he wasn’t Ryuji the high school B-team soccer player, he was Ryuji the tall handsome elf and a noble at that!
He then went to put the coins still in his hand into the sole remaining pouch on his belt only to discover that the infinite coin pouch was right where it should be. Then he remembered what the Youma had told him at the time. The pouch couldn’t be stolen from him. That got him to wondering if his pendant was the same way, could it be stolen? He didn’t have an answer but he was just utterly relieved. Sure, he was sore from being kicked repeatedly and they took the other pouch with a handful of small copper in it but so what? Relief flooded into Ryuji and he quickly stashed his coins in the pouch and took off his damp clothing to dry.
He then went to pulling coins from his infinite pouch to fill his satchel but he got a surprise. When he stuck his fingers into the fancy pouch, he found two coins in there. After fishing them out he wondered if he had left an extra coin in it when the thugs robbed him. He didn’t ponder this long though and went back to his task only to find two coins in it again! The pouch was now producing two small copper at a time, he had leveled up somehow, well if this was like a game that is!
He quickly filled the satchel full and tested its weight. It was heavy but not too bad. He certainly wouldn’t want to carry this around town but if he could just make straight for a bank, he should be alright. He decided that he would ask Karen about that as well as all the other places he wanted to go to. He began ticking off a list of things he needed but soon got distracted by thoughts of what he could buy to thank her. Finally, Ryuji just gave up and just got dressed again in his only slightly damp clothing. Shaking his head, he made his way downstairs to find out about food and perhaps a few beers. He wasn’t old enough to drink but this body probably was and he was going to want the alcohol as a pain killer for later when he wanted to go to sleep.
Ryuji descended the stairs and found his way to the bar and sat on one of the stools. A moment later Karen came out and looked around. When she spotted Ryuji at the bar she rushed over. “Can I get you some dinner? We have sauteed vegetables and fish! Oh wait, I guess you probably don’t want any fish, I’m sorry I brought you meat in your soup yesterday! I forgot that elves don’t eat meat. Oh, also, Lizbet brought an order of sweet bread that she said you ordered? We still had some left from yesterday.”
Ryuji smiled at her flustered manner of speech and responded once she seemed to wind down. “I really don’t mind the meat, you could say I’ve grown kind of fond of it but don’t say anything to any other elves about it, they would think there was something wrong with me. And as far as the sweetbread goes, I took a liking to it and I really enjoy talking with Lizbet so I ordered some more. As I said, I like to have something sweet after my meal but then I suppose I could just talk with you for a bit. That would have the same effect.”
she blushed and mumbled something as she rushed off to the kitchen. Ryuji had to marvel at this, it was a totally new sensation to have a girl be interested in him. He was enjoying the teasing but if he actually had a chance with her, he decided he wanted to pursue that. He had wanted to get her to tell him about some of the places around town but he soon got a better idea. When he talked to her about it, he was going to steer towards a date. After going to a bank tomorrow he would have more than enough to take her on a proper date and buy her a proper present.
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Karen returned from the kitchen with a tray containing a plate billowing steam. Apparently, the food was very fresh out of the oven but that made sense since it wasn’t even dark yet outside. She brought the tray over to him with a smile on her face and when she began unloading the tray there were two meals and she set one on the other side of the bar, presumably for herself. The plates contained a decent-sized piece of seared fish of some kind, a big portion of sauteed vegetables, and a couple small buttered buns of bread.
Ryuji looked at the offered food and his mouth began to water; he wasn’t used to eating great food like this. At home, his dad worked all the time and his mom was sick in the hospital most of the time. That just left him and his older sister who was in college. His sister Haruko was a very nice person but one thing she was not, was a cook. Most of the time they ate ramen but once in a while she would try to cook something, generally she would mess it up so bad they ended up eating ramen anyway.
At the thought of his parents and sister a tear formed in the corner of his eye. When she saw it Karen started to get flustered and looked like she was about to start apologizing so he spoke up quicker. “No, it’s not you. I just remembered something from my past. I had a sister and my parents were never home so she would try to cook and would mess up. I just don’t know what happened to my family and I don’t know if I had any other family or friends. I have to thank you as this is my first memory of my past.” Karen looked concerned but smiled anyway.
“The meal looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing a meal with me. I see that there was some butter left, good this bread is wonderful with butter on it and I’m sure it will all taste better with your company.” On cue, she blushed a deep crimson and stammered out a thank you.
The food was marvelous. Rarely did Ryuji eat this good. There were times when his dad would return home from work with some good news and take the family out to eat dinner. Most of the time that was because his mother had been released from the hospital. There were also a few times the school would have some events like the school cultural festival. At those times they would have pretty good food and Ryuji could eat at the stand he was working at. Ryuji struggled with using the carved wooden fork because it was so different from the chopsticks he was used to using. A couple times during the meal, Karen had to get up and serve one of the other patrons but when she came back to sit with him, Ryuji could feel cold glares from the other male patrons.
As they were enjoying their sweet bread after the meal Ryuji struck up the intended conversation. “I was wondering, do you know where the bank is? I need to exchange a bit of coinage.”
At first, she looked at him a little weirdly but then she smiled and nodded. “I’m not sure what ba’ancoo means but I know where the money changer is. Is that what you wanted? I can tell you how to get there, you just turn right after exiting the inn and…”
Ryuji was quick to interrupt her. “Well, the thing is, I get lost kind of easily because I’m not used to this city yet. I was hoping that maybe you could show me where it is? I also wondered where I could buy some new clothes and a second pair of shoes. I was also thinking of maybe getting a sword just in case. I’m no good with one, that was proven painfully at the mercenary’s guild today. I just figure that if I practice a bit I might get better at it.”
He noticed that Karen was staring at him with a worried look on her face. “I know where to get all of that. I even know where to get the best swords in town but are you sure that you want to be a mercenary? That’s a pretty dangerous profession and I’d hate to see you get hurt.”