A brief silence begins at the table while Cycelia is waving her hands about in wide-eyed panic, though everyone ignores her feverish attempt to buy herself some time to think. Tisha, Neela, and Damian are focused on Straf's bored face and his slanted mouth while he stares back at Tisha with his arms crossed, just like her.

「Ah, um… Um, you see-」

Cycelia stammers, still wiggling her hands left and right. Everyone ignores her.

「'Cause they're fucking stupid and can't even get our names right.」「Ack!」

Straf nonchalantly replies, remaining unfazed by their stares. Cycelia jumps up in her chair as her shocked emerald eyes snap to his face.

The table grows silent again. Tisha momentarily peels her blue eyes off Straf to exchange a quick glance with Neela, while Damian briefly looks at them both before they all return their gazes back to Straf, and stare at him in complete silence. Cycelia slowly lowers her arms beneath the table with a nervous, tight-lipped grimace on her face.

「What, that's it? That's disappointing…」

Tisha shrugs, turning her eyes away. Her shoulders slump with a little sigh.

「I thought there was more to it…」「Same…」

Damian remarks, and Neela nods her head. Greatly confused, Cycelia tilts her head and looks at Straf's nonchalant bored face again. He silently turns his eyes to her, before turning his head away towards the kitchen pass. His finger taps impatiently on his arm in a steady rhythm while they wait.

「How long can this take?… I'm not the type to go to restaurants often, am I just spoiled by the fast food industry?」

He grumbles and sighs in exasperation. Cycelia turns her emerald eyes back to Tisha and the rest, who appear to have smoothly accepted the explanation with no questions asked.

「Fast food?…」

She asks, blinking at him.

「Like hot dogs, Lia. You've seen a stall or two. Imagine a building dedicated to entirely and quickly selling hamburgers from the mythical city of Hamburg, or fish sticks from Atlantis.」

Straf shrugs, turning his bored eyes and slanted mouth back to Cycelia.

「Fish sticks?…」

She tilts her chestnut head the other way, furrowing her brows once more.

「Yeah, it's like-… Do you think fish sticks made from fish people would be cannibalism?」

Straf suddenly asks back after abandoning his explanation, furrowing his own brows at her.

「Huh?」

「You know, where do you draw the line? You wouldn't eat a cat, but you'd eat a fish, so what changed? If you could talk to them, would you still eat them?…」

「What?…」

Cycelia gently shakes her head with a perplexed expression on her face while Straf turns his eyes up to the high ceiling.

「…I'd feel bad if I could hold a philosophical discussion with a cow about the necessity of killing to live, which brings me to my point… What if they can talk, but you don't understand?」

Straf adds, and turns his furrowed brows towards Cycelia's confused eyes.

「…Yes, I don't understand.」

She replies, nodding her head.

「…I've never heard of this supposedly mythical Hamburg.」

Damian chimes in, leaning a little over the table towards Straf.

「Of course you fucking haven't…」

Straf scoffs, scrunching his mouth to the side. Three waiters approach the table, each holding two plates. They deliver a plate each before everyone seated, while Cycelia gets a selection of meats and cheeses on two separate platters. Damian looks at his pasta, blinking at it in disbelief.

「…There's tomato sauce?」

He says, looking up at the waiter who delivered it.

「Yes, is there a mistake?」

The waiter asks, lightly tilting his head with a brow raised.

「Is it fresh? Did you freeze the tomatoes? Do you pay a mage to freeze your food or something?-」

「No such thing. Our tomatoes are delivered fresh in frequent batches, usually from Temuria at this time of year.」

「Tem-!」

Damian sputters, and his eyes widen in response as he almost chokes.

《A single tomato from Temuria could put me deep in debt! How am I supposed to pay this off now!?》

He thinks, clutching at the blazer on his chest with a tight-lipped expression as he blankly stares aside at the floor.

「…Should the pasta be remade with a different sauce-?」

The waiter asks, but Damian immediately cuts in.

「Nononononono!」

Damian waves his hands left and right, feverishly shaking his head like Cycelia a few moments ago.

「…I see. Well then, please enjoy your meal.」

The waiter is taken aback a little by the sudden reaction, but then quickly collects himself and bows towards the rest of the table. The waiters back away, and depart towards the kitchen.

「…What did you expect, you hick? Just because it's the Academy town doesn't mean all the people here are mages.」

Tisha asks while looking at Damian with her brows raised, appearing almost indignant while she carves through a tenderloin baked in a puff pastry.

「That's right, most of the population here skims off the top from people like Tisha.」

Neela chimes in, nodding towards her.

「From the obscenely rich?…」

Damian reluctantly turns his eyes towards Tisha, who lets out a proud huff from her nose.

「Exactly!」

She says with her golden head raised high, and chomps down on a bite-sized piece of pastry and beef on her fork. Damian looks at Straf and Cycelia, and they've already started on their meals, though Straf's wine glass is already empty. Damian looks at his plate of spaghetti, and after some hesitation, takes a fork into his hand forks some of it into his mouth.

「Shit…」

He utters out, chewing. Somewhat surprised, Tisha turns her blue eyes to him.

「What? Is there something wrong with it?」

She swallows with a loud gulp, then asks.

「…It's good.」

Damian replies, grimacing heavily as if in pain while his fist clutches tight onto the fork…

…

Half an hour later…

The table is mostly quiet while everyone eats, only making a few idle comments on how well the wine pairs with their choice, or how perfectly the meals were prepared. When Tisha is mostly finished with her plate, she takes a few moments to pat her face clean with the cloth napkin and turns her gaze towards Damian, who is also about to finish his food.

「So, you want to be a mercenary after you graduate?…」

Tisha asks with a light smirk, setting the napkin aside as she leans forward on her elbow. Damian lets out a partially frustrated, and partially troubled sighful groan.

「For the last time… I don't want to be one, I have no choice.」

He replies, and refuses eye contact with a sour expression as he slurps up the last of the pasta.

「There's plenty of choices, you just don't want to take them.」

She shrugs and rests her chin on her palm, propping her head up.

「Tsk… No other choice will earn me quick money! I'm out of luck!」

Damian clicks his tongue in frustration and he lets go of the fork, leaving it on his plate as he clenches his fist on the table, speaking with a raised voice.

「Well… I hate shameless no-good men who milk women dry, so you scored some points with me when you said you don't want me to pay for your food…」

Tisha says, languorously turning her head aside towards nothing in particular.

「…I'm glad you want to return the money for this, but-」

Slam!

She adds, but the sound of Damian slapping his hand on the table draws everyone's attention to him.

「So it's not your treat after all!? You expect me to pay you back!?」

He asks, nearly shouting with his eyes wide-open in shock. Her face gains a mischievous grin.

「…Relax, I was only half-serious.」

She replies, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders as she smugly grins at him.

「So you seriously want me to pay you back to some degree!?」

Damian asks again with a tight-lipped expression on his face.

「Well… To a degree. It'd be nice if you paid me back, but I don't actually expect you to. You earned a little treat…」

Tisha says, briefly glancing at the ceiling before her blue eyes return to his grimace.

「…Like a dog.」

「Krrhk!」

She adds with a smug smile, and Damian stifles a curse that almost got out through his frustrated, clenched teeth.

「Not like I think you can pay me back, anyhow… It's fine if you just forget about it.」

Tisha shrugs, placing her hands back down on the table with a sigh of resignation. Damian manages to collect himself a little.

「Of course I can't pay you back… I'm from a village full of nothing!」

Exasperated, he spreads his hands, veiling his anger. Neela, Straf and Cycelia listen on in silence while taking their time and enjoying their food.

「Well, that may be the case… But if your plan works out, then it shouldn't be a problem, right?」

She asks, gazing at him with a serious expression on her face as she crosses her arms. The shift in her tone makes Damian pause for a second.

「…Right. Once I start making good money, it shouldn't be an issue to pay you back eventually.」

He nods, looking at her with eyes gently narrowed in suspicion.

「Right. But I don't believe you will pay me back, and not for a reason you might think.」

「Huh? And what would that be?」

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Damian asks, furrowing his brows.

「…When is your sister getting married?」

Tisha replies with another question. He breaks eye contact, thinking for a few seconds.

「…He gave them five years, so I'll have three years to make enough money to help them out.」

He says, turning his gaze back to her piercing blue eyes.

「Will a dead brother really make a good wedding gift?」

Tisha tilts her head, staring at Damian with a neutral yet extremely cold expression on her naturally pale face. The table goes completely silent as everyone else briefly pauses what they were doing and turn their eyes to Tisha. Damian blinks at her for a few moments, completely silent. He appears neither angered, nor particularly pleased.

「…What are you trying to say? I don't plan on dying-」

He replies after a prolonged pause, narrowing his eyes at her.

「Nobody does. There is a pretty clear pattern during wartime, my father talked about this once… Men who set out to war without death on their minds tend to be the ones that don't return.」

「…So what? It can happen to anybody. I'm well aware that it's dangerous, I know I can die-」

「You don't.」

She cuts in, interrupting him.

「Do you think you know what's in my head better than I do?」

Frustrated, he throws his hands up as he shakes his head in disbelief at her audacity.

「I'm saying you're aware that people die in wars, you just don't think you'll be one of them.」

Tisha replies, and her face remains serious the entire time without a hint of the smug or jesting tone from before.

「…So? Like I said, I'm not going to be a mercenary just to die right away.」

「So you'll be immortal during your first battle?」

She lets out a disdainful huff from her nose, glaring at Damian as she asks in a mocking tone.

「…I didn't say that. Don't twist my words.」

「What about the next one? Suppose the first one doesn't go horribly wrong, what about the second one? What if your employer decides to use you as disposable troops?」

Tisha asks, gently tilting her golden head while her eyes remain focused on his. Though visibly angered, he remains silent, unable or unwilling to respond.

「What? You think I'm an awful northerner for thinking like that? Sorry to break it to you, that's how it is everywhere. Ask Neela, ask Lia…」

Finally, a disdainful smirk appears on her face as her head tilts further. She casually shrugs, then nods towards Neela, then Cycelia, who both glance at each other with troubled faces.

「…I guarantee both their fathers sent mercenaries to their certain deaths at least once, and didn't think much of it. What if you were among them?…」

Tisha continues, and Damian remains silent, angrily glaring back at her.

「…It's perfectly normal. Whether they live or die, mercenaries will be gone with the war. A peasant's life is worth more than a mercenary to a king.」

She adds, and shrugs again.

「Am I wrong? Mercenaries are as disposable as arrows… You'd rather keep them, but you won't lose sleep if they're gone.」

Briefly pulling her eyes away from Damian, she glances at Neela and Tisha, who remain silent and only return looks full of discomfort back.

「…Great, but I already know that. Are you done? That's a lot of words to tell me that mercenaries are mercenaries.」

Damian scoffs, looking back at Tisha with an expression of disdain and disbelief on his face.

「You don't. Just like you think you know people die in wars, you think you know what you'd be signing up for. Tell me…」

Tisha insists, speaking in a stern and unyielding tone, staring at him with a frigid glare and her arms crossed.

「…Can you picture yourself dead in a field?」

She asks in a completely nonchalant manner, though in a gravely serious tone. While Damian is mostly successful at masking his reaction, there are minute details such as his eyes gently narrowing or the corners of his mouth moving a little that tell otherwise. Above all, his complete silence speaks the loudest.

「No, right? You talk about knowing what it means, but you can't actually place yourself among the dead. Can you picture eagles pecking at your face, hawks gouging your eyes?」

Tisha asks, lightly tilting her head again. Damian's eye contact visibly weakens as he slowly lowers his head.

「Can you imagine rotting in the summer? Starving wild animals tearing you apart? Maggots in your mouth?-」

She continues, and Damian briefly breaks the intense eye contact before forcing his eyes back to hers. Cycelia slowly lowers the slice of sausage from her mouth down to the plate.

「Get to the point.」

Damian says in an audibly frustrated tone, just barely keeping himself from scowling.

「I already made my point, but you are too stupid to see it. Let me ask you this, then… Why don't you just murder people for their money? Why wait two years?-」

Slam!

「Are you fucking insane!? I've kept quiet about a lot of things you said, but it looks like your civilized mask is now slipping off. What makes you think I'd consider doing that!?」

Damian interrupts Tisha by slamming his fist on the table, causing the utensils lying on the plates to clatter.

「Is that what you think?… No matter… Isn't that what you plan to do? Murder people for money? Why not give yourself a little head start?…」

Her face briefly grows sullen as she looks at his angry scowl, before returning back to its neutral yet cold expression with a short shake of her golden head.

「…If you kill only the wealthiest families and leave, you could get rich quickly. Nobody would be able connect random burglary murders around multiple cities to one killer.」

Tisha adds, spreading her hands with a completely serious expression on her face.

「I'd get caught immediately, then I'd get executed like the animal that would be capable of doing that.」

He replies, shaking his head in disbelief and immense disapproval.

「In other words, you are afraid of the punishment. If you kept it to one murder per city, they would never even consider sending adventurers to investigate…」

She scoffs again with a snide smirk on her face, crossing her arms once more.

「…It would be up to the city guard to catch you. You are a mage. They would never manage that, unless you let them.」

Tisha adds, her smirk slowly fades into her cold, neutral expression again.

「So your big idea is to just murder, murder, and murder some more? All innocent people?」

「Sure, why not?-」

「Because I'm not a murderer, you idiot!」

Damian exclaims, almost slamming his clenched fist on the table again, but he restrains himself at least that much.

「But you want to be a mercenary.」

Tisha declares, quizzically tilting her golden head.

「That's different!」

「How so?」

She asks, and the question visibly gives Damian some pause again.

「Isn't that what being a mercenary is about? Killing people for money? Do you think you won't be killing innocent people as one? How is that different from preying on the rich?」

She keeps asking, tilting her head further and further with each question. Damian remains silent.

「…I know I will kill people, you don't need to-」

He replies after a prolonged pause, clenching his teeth.

「I knooow, I know, I know… You keep saying that, but do you actually know anything that you're talking about? Do you even know what it means to kill someone?」

Tisha cuts in with a mocking tone, cocking her head left and right as she echoes Damian's words, and lets out a disdainful huff from her nose.

「It's not like a duel. It's not like a fistfight. It's not a slap in the face. If he's covering himself with his arms and begging for mercy, you hack right through. You stab until he's dead.」

「…If I end up having to defend myself, then there's no choice, I'll kill the guy before he can kill me.」

He reluctantly replies after another pause, glaring into her eyes, though his glare is slowly softening as it can't match the intensity of hers.

「Oh? Now what if you are not defending yourself? What if you do have a choice?」

She asks, and Damian poorly attempts to hide his wince from her. He turns his eyes away, unable or unwilling to respond again.

「You know mercenaries are rarely used defensively, right? You'll be killing people left and right on a good day. What if you're ordered to slaughter and raze a village like yours?」

Tisha continues verbally poking at Damian. His eyes snap back to her, now appearing visibly concerned while a tight-lipped expression is slowly appearing on his face.

「What if a small group of the village men points their hastily hammered scythe spears at you, and scream at your band to get away? What will you do then?」

「…I can just not do it.」

He replies, and she lets out an amused huff from her nose, turning her head aside with a smirk on her face.

「My… Your sister is a really poor girl. She has a brother stupid enough to sign up for a war, and too stupid to get paid for it…」

She says as her eyes return to his, once again frigid. Damian is visibly clenching his teeth, either in anger or frustration if not both, and remains silent.

「…I would ask you if you can see yourself driving a spear through one of the peasant's gut, but you're a mage and you're above being just commoner infantry, so…」

Tisha shrugs her hands and shoulders before crossing her arms again.

「…Can you picture yourself setting them on fire? Can you picture what they'd smell like? Imagine their screaming? It'd be essentially murder, they'd have no chance.」

The northern princess keeps asking and asking, and Damian struggles to not turn his eyes away.

「You've gone real quiet right now, so let me ask you this… Can you picture yourself killing a man? You, yourself.」

She adds, still glaring at Damian, and his gaze finally drops down to the table. His mouth grimaces heavily in a mixture of frustration and anguish while his mind treacherously brings up the old memories of the man on the tavern floor clutching at his slit throat and choking on his blood with a panicked and confused look on his face.

「No, right?… Thought so.」

Tisha lets out a large sigh as she turns her blue eyes away towards the waiters standing a few paces away, waiting for them to finish their conversation. Damian is clenching his fist and teeth, still blankly staring at the table. Neela and Cycelia exchange discomforted looks, while Straf remains completely unfazed throughout the entire conversation between the two.

「…Then what the fuck am I supposed to do? All jobs that don't require killing people to get paid well are already taken. For years, decades, even.」

Damian quietly asks in a dejected tone, his eyes remain low on the table.

「…What if I had a job you could do, and you'd likely not have to kill anyone?」

Tisha asks, and the two lock their gazes. Damian is once again looking at her with an extremely wary expression.

「Unlikely, mind you, not impossible. Though more likely than not, you'd live in relative peace.」

She clarifies with a shrug of her shoulders, and Damian slowly straightens out of his dejected slouch…