There was a stampede outside of the bakery.
Yakti had transformed into a woman again and began to move to the bakery’s door, only to see Kentei pushing his back against the door with as much force as his 10-year-old frame could handle.
"Let us in! We're merely customers! We just want to try your famous carrot cakes!" The 'crowd' outside was yelling.
"Carrot cake!? What carrot cake! We don't sell any carrot cake! Please! Leave! We are closed!" The boy cried back with no reduction in guards trying to break in.
It was honestly hilarious for Yakti to observe this situation. He had expected at least a little more effort from the plainclothes guards to pretend like normal civilians, but it seemed like they had entirely given up by this point.
They are most likely going to raid this place if he doesn't step in, though, and he could start seeing Kentei tearing up from the stress of the yelling and the pain of the people slamming the door into him.
He would move behind the counter and check a drawer, grabbing an assortment of lira, quatraces, and vingtunces, before going to the front door and pulling the panicking Kentei.
The door swung open, and many beastmen, humans, and even some elves started falling over each other as a pile of people were lying around the street and bakery.
"Oh dear! I hadn't known the old man had so many customers!" He would chuckle while covering his mouth.
The guards began picking themselves up before trying to move into the bakery, only to see the 'lady' who ran the shop holding 'her' hand up to tell them to stop.
"Sadly, while I know you bunch are huge fans of the Old Man's bakery, we do have surveillance installed in this property through the aid of magic. I'd encourage you to keep quiet because if the family upstairs feels like you're making too much noise, they’ll use a magic item I gave them to call the guards to break this gathering."
He finally dropped his hand as he turned to Kentei. (Who was still recovering from his back pains.) "Kentei dear, I'm heading to a restaurant on HM Conch and Bridge Road. While I'm gone, please keep our dear guests filled, okay?"
He would quickly glance to see the faces of the guards. Despite their incompetence in every other part of being a plainclothes guard, they seemed to have the skills to eavesdrop at the very least.
Perfect, he now has about 1.5 hours to go and eat and hopefully lose the guards.
He would leave the bakery as all of the guards made way for him to leave, only to promptly follow.
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Intersection of Bridge Road and HM Conch Street.
The path to this intersection had luckily died down in crowdedness, so it didn't take much time to go from Altain to HM Conch, then make a left and continue walking towards HM Conch’s intersection with Bridge Road.
Now, they needed to find a restaurant to sit and eat at. Luckily, as the government was in session, finding a noblewoman happily eating in these establishments was not an odd sight.
Outside the government sessions, noblewomen typically were in their palaces with their husbands and would have servants cook them food. But, with how densely populated New Raastia is, this wouldn't be possible as there simply wasn't enough space to provide a proper palace or manor for every nobleman. So, restaurants replaced the servants and made food for these noble families.
Looking around the intersection, a variety of restaurants was available, but the one that particularly stood out was The Rose-Crusted Crown.
It was perfect for him.
It seemed like enough nobility entered the restaurant that it wouldn't be too odd for him to dine in. Further, the restaurant had a natural view of the rest of the intersection as a corner restaurant, so they could see what exactly would let them shake off the guards.
As for the guards themselves, many of them had reached the intersection long before him and were simply pretending to go around window shopping while keeping an eye on the 'blonde woman' they needed to follow.
Once he entered the restaurant, some of the guards began to communicate with each other via a spell and would argue about who would follow them into the restaurant. Eventually, they decided to send a female guard to try to get close to them.
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Inside of The Rose-Crusted Crown
Upon entering, there was a large plush sofa with an ornate wooden screen in front of him, blocking the rest of the restaurant from vision. To his right would be a small stand with a a beastwoman wearing a butler's outfit behind it.
"Welcome to the Rose-Crusted Crown. How many people will we be seating tonight?" She asked.
"One, please." Yakti would state while moving to the sofa.
As the beastwoman took note of his preference, the female human plainclothes guard also entered shortly behind and sat down next to Yakti.
"Oh? Did you have a guest you forgot about?" The beastwoman was already beginning to scratch away her notes.
"No, I do not know this woman," Yakti replied plainly.
The woman tried to fake being surprised. "Yakti! What do you mean you don't know me?! I've been a close friend of yours for a while!"
He would begin to scootch away from her as she would get closer.
"I really do not know this woman, and I am uncertain how she got my name. Could you please get her out?" He had started to reach to the other side of the sofa, but the distance between the 2 didn't decrease.
The beast woman was uncertain what to do in this situation. The guard approached him rapidly and would even try to touch him. He jumped out of the sofa at these attempts and went closer to the beastwoman.
"Ma'am, I'm certain you have heard our client. She doesn't know you. If you do not remove yourself from the premises, we will call the guards on you." She managed to keep a calm composure despite Yakti trying to use her as a body cover effectively.
"Call the guards on me? I am a guard! Try to call the guards on a guard and see how well it goes!" She chuckled before she covered her mouth.
"Do you not have some other method to kick this woman out? While I doubt her claims of being, I would still not want this fine establishment to take any risks." He said while the guard would get up from the sofa and dust herself off.
"I believe my dear friend Yakti has some issues with their mind right now. Please let me take her away to a Tebidnatic church to heal her. She has these fits of poor memory and hasn't recovered at all from them." She would reach out to Yakti as he tried to slip his hand away from her, but he wasn't fast enough and she managed to catch a grip on his wrist.
As soon as that happened, his mind began to feel a bit cloudier than usual, an ethereal sensation of knowing this woman despite his mind knowing very well that he didn't know her.
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Shit! She casts gatherings! Why does my friend- No, I don't know her, why does she know gatherings!? Why is she out and about!? He thought to himself before smacking the guard across the face, causing her to let go and the feeling to go away.
"You dare cast a gathering on me! I am a noblewoman and you are nothing more than a mere guard! Yet you dare to befuddle my mind! You are a swindler of the highest order!"
He would immediately dash behind the butler, trying to protect himself by using them as a sacrifice.
Luckily, now that he was behind the guard, a large portion of the restaurant could see him cowering in defense, providing some protection in the form of her potential fear of witnesses.
If the female guard tried to grab him again, he could simply scream for bloody murder, and as she is still in plain clothes, a large portion of people would suspect her of being a kidnapper, including some noblemen here who should be armed with a weapon or know offensive magic.
The guard, still heavily tunnel-visioned at the prospect of reapplying the gathering from earlier onto him, tried to bolt towards him only for the beastwoman to rapidly cast a spell that created a film of water under her, which, on the already slippery tile of the restaurant, caused the guard to trip and fall on the ground.
"Please evacuate our premises, or I'll get our guards to remove you myself," The beastwoman said in a monotone voice.
The guard got up only to see the entire restaurant staring at her. She would get up, but before she could make any advances; the beastwoman blocked the path between the two.
She clicked her mouth as she turned away and walked from the room, and Yakti let out an exasperated breath.
"I'm quite sorry for that inconvenience, dear customer. We have an outside canopy with a unique illusionary enchantment on it that isn't being used right now. We normally reserve it for VIP customers, but I believe you deserve nothing more than the greatest experience we have to compensate you for your experience.
"Would you like to take it?" The butler inquired.
Yakti began to pat his dress from any dust that came off the sofa before answering.
"Yes, that sounds like a..." He tried to find a fancy word that made him sound more noble-like before continuing, "Sounds like a splendid time to me."
"Okay, and for how many people will your server have the pleasure of serving today?"
"Just one, please." Yakti held up one finger as the butler woman nodded, picking up a menu from behind the stand.
She would guide him through the restaurant, where many had been staring at him for the interaction with the guard, leading him under a flight of stairs (presumably the top of which was where the restaurant's owners lived or it was a sublet apartment) and through a door.
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The 'canopy' was more like a tent. There was cloth around them with small 'Windows' cut out into the canopy so Yakti could see outside.
Inside was a table made out of some dark oak. It was probably well engraved but was too dark since there was only a single lamp in the center of the room and the soft glow of the street lights outside. The sun had almost finished setting, and Yakti could see glimpses of the night sky.
Upon entering the room, he was seated to the left with the restaurant to his right. The seat itself was well cushioned. There was nothing to note about it besides it being very comfortable.
As far as they could see, a bodyguard was standing outside. He couldn’t get a glimpse of the bodyguard, however.
Wrapping around the tent was a small fence with a gate which was directly behind where he sat.
In a short amount of time time, a server with pointy ears and the same snow-globe-like eyes as Perse entered. He was likely an elf, which is not very uncommon but rare to find in Raasti-Dreti, especially in the southern states without a border to the Dredatski Forest where the elves normally reside.
"We at the Rose-Crusted Crown are sorry for the experience you had when you came in, as a result, you were given only the best server we have." The elf would place their left arm behind their back and their right arm above their waist before doing a bow.
It felt very nice to be treated like royalty but the overly-formal treatment was sounding alarms in his mind for how much this trip could end up costing.
"Before I get your order may I get started with your drinks."
He hadn’t even looked over the menu yet. There was so much going through his mind as he examined the restaurant that he didn’t even realize a menu was in front of him. He wasn't too certain how to act "nobly" in this matter, so he simply acted as formally as he could.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I believe I got distracted by the magnificence of this canopy, and I didn't even look at my menu! Would you mind returning in a few minutes while I decide what to drink?"
The elf tilted their head before nodding affirmatively and leaving.
Finally, Yakti looked down at the menu.
Rose-Crusted Crown
Course 1: (L. 8)
Grilled Artichoke with Dried Forest Nuts
Isla Rebina Soup with Lover's Marrow Base
Monster Steak Risotto with Creamy Base
Huckleberry and Lemon Sorbet
Course 2: (L. 8)
Wild Salad with Cured Monster Rump
Bagna Cauda with Lover's Marrow Base
Seashells Stuffed with Imitation Oyster, Wild Tomatoes, and Natural oils
Chocolate Flan with Wild Nuts
Ala Carte
Grilled Artichoke
Wild Salad
L. 1 Q. 2
Isla Rebina Soup
Bagna Cauda
L. 2
Monster Steak Risotto
Stuffed Seashells
L. 5 Q.3
Huckleberry and Lemon Sorbet
Chocolate Flan
L. 2 Q. 1
The reverse side of the menu was a simple list of wines and meads one could order. Oddly, no non-alcoholic drinks. All wines were by the bottle, and all meads by the tankard.
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5 Lira and 3 Quatraces! Yakti was mentally agape at seeing that price. If 1 Lira was about a week's worth of food, then this one dish was worth almost 6 weeks worth of food!
Before he could decide to take an early leave, the elf waiter had returned.
"Are we ready to order now, Madam?"
"Oh yes, I am quite sorry for the delay. I'm trying to lose some weight, so I think I'll just take the Wild Salad from the Ala Carte menu with some water, please."
The waiter nodded. "That'll be 1 Lira and 3 Quatraces, please."
Yakti jolted back upon hearing the price. The price for what they ordered was L. 1 Q. 2. Where did the other Quatrace come from!?
"I'm sorry, what I ordered was 1 Lira and 2 Quatraces. Could you please inform me where the other Quatrace came from?"
"That would be for your water, Madam. We only get the finest water from the Pallisary mountaintops. Then, we ship it across the Western Sea to our doorstep and apply ice magic to it to chill it."
Why would you do all of that for water??? He would reach into a small pouch and pull out a collection of coins consisting of a Lira, two Quatraces, and 24 Vingtunces.
"Ah, it appears that I did not pack enough money on hand for the water, please cancel it for me."
"But you have, Madam. I can count twenty-four Vingtunces with my eye. You may be able to purchase the water with the Wild Salad if you desire." The waiter said with no regard for his financial situation.
You didn't have to say that! Now I feel obligated to buy the damn water! Yakti pretended to chuckle while covering his mouth.
"Oh, silly me! I hadn't noticed that!" He tried to think of something, anything that would let him get away with not purchasing the water, but he couldn't think of anything as his brain emptied.
"I think I will have the water then, thank you." He continued while pocketing three of the Vingtunces and mentally crying in his head.
"An excellent choice, madam, please wait a moment while your Wild Salad and water come."
He regretted buying the damn water.