Ryuji smiled to himself. Karen certainly looked like she hated the thought of him getting hurt. Actually, now that he thought about it he really didn’t hurt. He realized that he should be in a lot of pain from the beating he took earlier but he didn’t feel any aches or pain whatsoever. He resolved to look into that a bit later but for now, he needed to turn the conversation into a date! “Well, I don’t plan on rushing into anything too hazardous, at least not till I get a lot better. I do appreciate your help though so again I was wondering if you could show me around. I wouldn’t mind buying a few things for you as well. I bet you would look lovely in a new dress and some new shoes, not that you aren’t lovely now but I would like to see you in something like that. What do you think?”
There was the blush back, she ducked her head as her cheeks got even brighter and she continued on in a small stammering voice. Ryuji thought to himself that she was adorable! “I-I uhm. I w-would really l-like that. I c-can take off after lunch is served tomorrow. There usually aren’t that many people here at that time since it costs extra and a lot of people here are working at that time of day.”
Ryuji mentally patted himself on the back, it had worked perfectly. He was going on a date tomorrow after lunch! This was the first time since primary school he had been on a date and that was just him going with a girl to play on the swings in the park near his house.
Now he had only one item of business to take care of before tomorrow’s date. “I have one more thing I wanted to ask of you. Could I perhaps get you to store this here? *He sat the satchel on the counter with a leaden thump. * I’m afraid it’s a bit heavy to keep carrying around all day and as it’s going to be after lunch before we even go to the money changer. As Teresa pointed out it’s not that safe to keep it in my room and I kind of got the impression earlier that it might not be that safe to carry it all around with me either.”
Karen gulped as she looked at the satchel that was obviously brimming with coins of some kind. She realized that even if it was all in small copper that it was easily several small gold coins worth. She shook her head a little stiffly before continuing. “I’ll have to ask Teresa if we can store it in the safe. I don’t think that that would be safe for you to carry around either.”
Ryuji then went on with the last thing he wanted to do before retiring to his room for the evening. He was going to start his apprenticeship tomorrow so he wanted to get plenty of sleep and show up early. He reached into his pouch and found one of the coins he was after and laid the large copper on the table in front of Karen. “Here, this is as thanks for all of your help today. I really appreciate it and I look forward to tomorrow!”
When she laid eyes on the coin her eyes grew wider and she began to shake her head. “I can’t accept this much! That’s as much as I make in an eightday of work, not that I don’t get compensated fairly! Teresa gives me a room and I eat meals free so it’s more than enough but still, I think that a large copper is a little too much don’t you?”
Ryuji was a little surprised that she was making so little but it did make sense if room and board were included in her pay. He nodded and slid the coin back into his pouch and she visibly relaxed but he wasn’t done yet. “Well if that’s too much I suppose it can’t be helped. I guess I’ll give you this instead.” As he said that he placed a stack of eight small copper coins on the counter and quickly turned away to get up and head for his room.
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Karen looked at the stack of small copper and she knew that he knew the amount was exactly the same. She caught a smile on his face as he turned to leave and she knew right away that he did it on purpose. He WAS flirting with her after all, did that make tomorrow a date?! He had told her that he would buy her a dress and shoes! Her heart began to flutter at the thought of escorting the tall handsome elf around town. She could feel her knees getting weak and other parts of her began to react accordingly.
Karen couldn’t remember the last time that a guy had shown this kind of interest in her. She had been strong since she was a child and a lot of the boys began to get scared of approaching her. It was a reasonable thing since she was the oldest of four siblings and they were all orphans. She began to work early on and was stronger than other girls her age. Between being an orphan with nothing to offer in family ties and the intimidating presence that she cultivated to keep her two little sisters and little brother safe, she wasn’t the most approachable girl. That only got worse as she got older but here was a handsome and rich guy showering her with praise and gifts. It was a dream come true!
Karen pocketed the tip that Ryuji had left for her, feeling her heart aching the whole time as she put the coins in her apron. She then remembered the satchel and picked it up to go ask Teresa about using the safe. As she went to move it she realized just how heavy it was when she nearly dropped it. She took it into the back of the kitchen and up the stairs to the owner’s room. She knocked on the door to Teresa’s living area. As she was waiting for the innkeeper to open her door, she decided to have a peek and was astounded once again at the volume of coins filling the medium-sized satchel to the very brim.
When Teresa opened her door, she was met with the sight of Karen staring wide-eyed into an open satchel filled almost to spilling with shiny copper coins. It was such an odd sight that for a second she didn’t register what was going on. Then realization dawned on her and she whistled. “I knew your boyfriend was loaded but isn’t that a little excessive? Well, don’t just stand there, come in! I guess you need to put that in the safe box. Makes me wonder yet again why he chose to stay here when I knew from the start that he could afford to stay anywhere in the city he wanted to.”
At first, Karen started to protest about the “boyfriend” comment but then she realized, that was exactly the case now, wasn’t it? She got a glow in her cheeks as she went into the owner’s rooms and began recounting the events that had just taken place. Surprisingly, she wasn’t the only one that was blushing. Karen realized that the owner had more of a romantic streak than she had thought. Even though she had to be quick so that they could get back down to the customers that would be waiting on their evening meal the two shared a good giggle and Teresa promised that Karen would look properly presentable for her date tomorrow.
As Karen descended the stairs to go back to work Teresa put the incredibly heavy satchel in her iron safe box. After replacing the key to its proper hiding place she then began rummaging through her closet. Karen was a little taller than she had ever been but they used to be about the same waist and bust size so the older woman knew that she still had a few things that would fit the girl in her wardrobe.
She pulled things out of her wardrobe to try on Karen later. She considered this like a mother finding a good dress to send her daughter off in to try to help her get a marriage partner. She was having so much fun, but she never had any children because her husband was sent to war and died before they had any children. She also knew that Karen’s father died in the war and her mother died of heartache a short time after. In some ways, it seemed like fate that the girl had ended up working for her.
Then, at last, she found it, the dress that she knew she had to give to Karen to wear on her date. She was glad that she was finally going through her wardrobe, she could give the girl all of her old clothes as a wedding present! First, she would need to wash these because the strong herbs put in the closet to deter bugs from eating them had left their smell all over the clothes. Now she just had to teach the poor thing how to reel her prince in and seal the deal!