Chapter 73
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Decisively sitting down, Greyson ignored the voice and sat down as if he did not hear her greeting. To no avail, however, as a body sat down across from him at the table. The sweet smell of roses wafted over to his nose, however, all he could feel towards this smell was disgust. Finally glancing up, he saw the last face he wanted to see at this moment. Beauty of the Argentum Family, Claire Argentum, sat down in front him with a wide smile on her face. Mae followed behind like a shadow.
"Magician Greyson, what a coincidence that you decided to eat here as well. You wouldn't mind if I joined you for dinner, right?" Softly speaking with a slight blush, Claire looked like the picture of feminine gentleness. Many of the other male eyes on the third floor started glancing over, some even starting to drool. But Greyson could only feel frustration as he inwardly rolled his eyes. Obviously, she already sat down, so the question was redundant. If he were a normal person then of course he could not say "no" at this point.
"Ah, Ms. Argentum, I did not notice you at all earlier. It is such a coincidence that you are eating here, as well. I am sorry to say, however, that I do mind if you join me. You see, my cat here really hates strangers and refuses to eat when they are around. I have not been able to feed him all day, so starving now would really not be okay. There are plenty of other chances to eat. If you let me know beforehand, I will not bring Lucius along." Smoothly spitting complete nonsense, even Greyson felt proud at how quickly he thought of an excuse. Normally mischievous, Lucius inwardly cracked up, however, he still loyally played the part and hid behind Greyson while hissing at Claire. Feeling his partner backing him up, Greyson stroked his fur while pretending to look worried. However, the minute his eyesight turned towards Lucius, Claire glared daggers at Lucius as if she could not wait to strangle the cat. Noting the hatred, Lucius felt rather surprised and decided to tell Greyson about it later. When Greyson's eyes turned back, Claire was back to her original shy, gentle self.
"Please, you can just call me Claire. Well, Mae could go feed him elsewhere. I wanted to talk to you about some things for the upcoming journey."
"Ah, sorry, Lucius has serious separation anxiety. He would never leave with Mae without me around. We have a lot of time to talk about journey related topics later."
Hearing such a quick reply, even Claire's facade started cracking as the corner of her mouth slightly twitched. Separation anxiety? This owner and cat traveled with them for so long, of course, Claire already had a handle on some of their habits. The cat would constantly go running off on its own while Greyson stayed in camp. Such blatant lies and rejection were a first for Claire. She could not help but doubt her own attractiveness. Every other boy would beg for her attention, why was this magician not interested at all? Although slightly upset, she would not give up so easily.
"Then, why don't I stay until the food you order comes out? I can leave afterwards to let Lucius eat in peace."
"Ah, well, I guess that would be fine. I just feel bad about kicking you out at that moment. Why do we not just make dinner plans for another day?"
"No, it's okay. I don't mind." Claire would not let this chance slip by because she knew that the minute, she let him go this time, he would make up millions of other excuses to not eat with her.
"O-okay..." Politely smiling as best as he could, Greyson could not help but curse at her inwardly.
"This girl is like a haunting ghost that just won't let go. Why is she clinging to you so desperately? It can't be that she can't tell you are not interested at all." Lucius' voice echoed inside Greyson's mind.
"I don't know, but I can't completely be impolite to her. Hopefully the food comes quickly." Exasperated, Greyson mentally replied back only hoping that the torture would end faster. Just as Greyson felt resigned to his fate, another voice called out to their table.
"Who might this young lady be? Our young master would like to invite you over for a meal." Looking up, Greyson saw the owner of the voice. Although he acted humble as a servant, one could see the arrogance in his eyes. He had a rat-like face with an inherently grating pitch to his voice, Greyson was amazed that "young master" mentioned did not get annoyed by being followed by such a person. However, he completely welcomed this notion. Nothing would be better than someone taking this obsessed follower of his somewhere far away. Claire was the complete opposite. Sliding her eyes over to the servant, she looked completely displeased by the interruption.
"Go tell your young master that I will not be able to take advantage of his hospitality this time." After saying this phrase, she turned her attention back to Greyson to try to start some small talk. At first, the servant just stood there in surprise as his young master was never rejected under normal circumstances.
"Ah, it must be because young lady is not from around here. My young master is Anshelm Gale, his father is the City Lord of Acernis..." As if figuring out the reason for such quick rejection, his mouth continued moving as he listed out the power backing his young master and even went into a description of what a "genius" his young master is.
From the start, Greyson paid no attention to this annoying servant and actually went about figuring out how to order using the magic tablet in front of him. Tracing his hand over the tablet, he allowed mana to flow through it. The stone tablet lit up with letters explaining the dishes that were available for third floor customers. A lot of them were completely new to Greyson, so he carefully read the descriptions and benefits. Although he gained some money from his master and staying in the academy, Greyson was far from rich. Looking over the prices, he could only go for a more reasonable dish. He chose the Fire Dragon's Breath. A real awe-inspiring, but exaggerated name. The dish contained meat from a Fiery Salamander with some specifically fire element filled magic herbs and plants. The price was still at a reasonable range and Greyson was excited because it was said to contain a high concentration of fire element. In the midst of his meditation, Greyson's fire element advancement fell the most behind. He spent an extended amount of time during the past five years to keep advancing in all his elements at the same speed. This was the limit on multi-element magicians which Lucius spoke about since the beginning. His understanding of all the elements must be at the same level before he can advance stages, there was no possibility to favor one over the other. The natural environment of Snow Country made it inevitable that fire magic became weak compared to his other elements. Lightning was also hard to advance because places naturally rich in lightning elements are very rare.
Apparently to order, all one needed to do was use mana to write the name of the dish on the tablet and the kitchen will receive the order. Following the directions, Greyson quickly wrote out his dish and the dish that Lucius chose. Fascinated by the magic tool, he had already placed Claire and the servant to the back of his mind. He continued playing around with this new magic tool in order to maybe gleam an inspiration for something he could make later. The communication system between this tablet and whatever was displaying his order in the kitchen level could be extremely useful. After looking, he could tell that the menu from earlier used the light element and the order transport should be the spatial element. However, the smaller intricacies were completely beyond his present knowledge. Neat trinkets such as this tablet, face changing masks, even armor for normal soldiers were actually made by a completely different occupation called Magic Mechanic. Normally, magicians who were extremely intelligent but not talented magicians chose this side occupation. They could experiment with mana; however, they were limited by their own small mana stores. The occupation did not really interest Greyson in the beginning, as Mechanics were not paid well. However, the more he saw their convenient magic tools, the more Greyson felt tempted to learn more about the subject. Some combinations between a Magic Blacksmith's practices and a Magic Mechanics practice could create something useful and powerful in his opinion. Not all Blacksmith creations were as efficient and universal as Magic Mechanics. The magic tools that Greyson makes are more tailored with a specific magician in mind, while, tools like this tablet are for anyone to use with multiple uses.
Deep in his own thoughts, Greyson was completely oblivious to the hinting glances that Claire kept sending him in order to ask for some help. Frustrated by Greyson's lack of response, she finally resorted to slightly tapping his foot underneath the table. However, regardless of her efforts, Greyson would not look up or interfere with the situation. He continued fiddling with the tablet with fascination. In truth, he was truly enthralled by these trinkets, but, in Claire's eyes, Greyson was purposefully ignoring her.
This was all until a fight finally broke out and they no longer cared about manners. Claire did not want to yell due to her strict upbringing, however, Mae was not so reserved. Mae and the male servant began to yell insults at each other and grabbed the attention of the distracted Greyson. Finally showing interest, he lifted his head to start listening to the conversation again. Seeing Greyson paying attention, Claire smiled and sighed in relief thinking that he would do something with a show of power or something.
"My miss has already politely refused the invitation. Maybe another time!"
"It should be her honor to be invited by my young master!"
"Stupid toad, why can't you just get lost! Don't you see you are ruining the atmosphere of the restaurant for the rest of the people?!"
"Toad? Ugly commoner, with your poor upbringing, only you would start shouting and cursing." Sniffed the male servant in disdain towards Mae.
"What?!" About to explode with rage, Mae wanted to smack the arrogant look off the man's face.
"Hold on, hold on, quiet down. Amon, where are your manners?" Interrupting the fighting servants, the approaching boy was good-looking in his own right, however, compared to the people who surround Greyson, the newcomer was rather average-looking. The power radiating off the young man was around the advanced level stage two which was not worthy of Greyson's attention, even Claire was stronger than the man. Smiling graciously, the young man tried his best to act suave as he approached the table.
"My apologies to the young lady for my servant's behavior. I have obviously not educated him properly. Amon, quickly apologize!" Taking the situation in stride, he continued acting like a benevolent noble. Greyson could only inwardly snicker. Lucius mentally mentioned to him about Claire's earlier glare which made Greyson believe that this kind, angel-like lady was not as inwardly beautiful as she tried to portray. He did not mind as it only made him more guilt-free for rejecting her, but he could tell this young master had met his match. Even Greyson could see through the lecherous intentions in the young man's eyes behind his act, while he could not tell anything about Claire until her small slip-up. The amateur showing off in front of the master. Who would win?
"I apologize, I meant no offense." Quickly following along, the servant apologized.
"It's okay. I do not hold a grudge. But if you could return now so I can enjoy my meal with my partner." Graceful and magnanimous, Claire acted as if nothing happened. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly felt the urge to puke with her fake act, plus he could clearly tell that she was trying to drag him into this mess. Just as he feared, Anshelm turned his eyes over to Greyson.
"Half-elf? You want to associate yourself with some disgusting mixed-blood?" Disdain filled the young master's expression as he spat those words. Angered by his words, Greyson felt like acting just to make this annoying person leave. However, just as the thought popped up, Greyson's food arrived.
Happily glancing his food, Greyson threw out the thoughts of the two and wanted to quickly get started. Taking his first bite, he could feel the abundant fire elements run through his body and warm his blood while perfecting the element balance in his body. Slightly meditating, his body drifted into a relaxed state as he enjoyed the great food and absorbed the fire elements trying to waste as little as possible.
"HEY!" His wonderful state was suddenly shattered by a loud mana-supported shout. Not just Greyson, multiple people in the room suddenly spat blood as their meditation with their meals was also interrupted. Everyone looked over and glared daggers at the Acernis young master. However, completely forgetting himself, Anshelm continued looking at Greyson.
"Will you get lost? I am trying to enjoy a nice meal with this young lady." Recollecting himself from his earlier anger after being ignored, Anshelm tried his best to ask politely. Greyson, however, was quite passed manners at this point.
"Scram! Don't you know the rules of the restaurant?! People could get seriously injured when their meditation is interrupted so suddenly!" His anger was echoed by the surrounding people as they supported Greyson. Face pale, Anshelm finally realized his mistake as he looked around. Even the guards at the entrance of the staircase walked over.
"Hmph! Uncultured things, Magician Greyson is right. Both of you should quickly leave this place." Mae felt like she could finally speak out. However, Greyson's anger filled eyes soon turned towards Mae and Claire as well.
"Both of you, as well. My food has come, it is time for you to leave as promised. Why don't you both just leave me alone? I need peace when I eat." Not holding back anymore, Greyson quickly indicated for both of the girls to leave as well. It was now time for Claire to blush and realize that her promise had already come into effect as she looked at the food now on the table. Nibbling at her lip, she made a teary-eyed look fishing for sympathy, but none was to be found with Greyson. Finally, unable to shamelessly stay, she got up and walked down the steps. Although Anshelm did not understand the situation, he could tell that the young lady was now upset so it was his chance. Without even needing a second warning, he voluntarily left the third floor of the restaurant rushing after his crush.
Seeing both of them leave, Greyson couldn't help but sigh, "Peace and quiet."
...
After a successful meditation session, Greyson asked around for the tavern that the caravan was supposed to stay at. Not too long after, he had found the place and his assigned room. Flopping onto the bed, Greyson felt physically and mentally exhausted after the array test and the earlier emotional drainage from Claire and the young master. His eyes drooping, he could feel the drowsiness winning him over. However, before he could fall asleep, there was a light knock at the door.
"Sir Greyson? Are you awake?" Recognizing the voice as Eden's, Greyson rubbed his eyes before answering.
"Ms. Ley, is there an issue?" Feeling impatient and tired, he couldn't help but sound brusque.
"Actually, there is something really important I need to speak with you about..." Listening to the graveness in her tone, Greyson finally concentrated and looked up at her curiously.
"Well, come on in and we can talk about it."
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Decisively sitting down, Greyson ignored the voice and sat down as if he did not hear her greeting. To no avail, however, as a body sat down across from him at the table. The sweet smell of roses wafted over to his nose, however, all he could feel towards this smell was disgust. Finally glancing up, he saw the last face he wanted to see at this moment. Beauty of the Argentum Family, Claire Argentum, sat down in front him with a wide smile on her face. Mae followed behind like a shadow.
"Magician Greyson, what a coincidence that you decided to eat here as well. You wouldn't mind if I joined you for dinner, right?" Softly speaking with a slight blush, Claire looked like the picture of feminine gentleness. Many of the other male eyes on the third floor started glancing over, some even starting to drool. But Greyson could only feel frustration as he inwardly rolled his eyes. Obviously, she already sat down, so the question was redundant. If he were a normal person then of course he could not say "no" at this point.
"Ah, Ms. Argentum, I did not notice you at all earlier. It is such a coincidence that you are eating here, as well. I am sorry to say, however, that I do mind if you join me. You see, my cat here really hates strangers and refuses to eat when they are around. I have not been able to feed him all day, so starving now would really not be okay. There are plenty of other chances to eat. If you let me know beforehand, I will not bring Lucius along." Smoothly spitting complete nonsense, even Greyson felt proud at how quickly he thought of an excuse. Normally mischievous, Lucius inwardly cracked up, however, he still loyally played the part and hid behind Greyson while hissing at Claire. Feeling his partner backing him up, Greyson stroked his fur while pretending to look worried. However, the minute his eyesight turned towards Lucius, Claire glared daggers at Lucius as if she could not wait to strangle the cat. Noting the hatred, Lucius felt rather surprised and decided to tell Greyson about it later. When Greyson's eyes turned back, Claire was back to her original shy, gentle self.
"Please, you can just call me Claire. Well, Mae could go feed him elsewhere. I wanted to talk to you about some things for the upcoming journey."
"Ah, sorry, Lucius has serious separation anxiety. He would never leave with Mae without me around. We have a lot of time to talk about journey related topics later."
Hearing such a quick reply, even Claire's facade started cracking as the corner of her mouth slightly twitched. Separation anxiety? This owner and cat traveled with them for so long, of course, Claire already had a handle on some of their habits. The cat would constantly go running off on its own while Greyson stayed in camp. Such blatant lies and rejection were a first for Claire. She could not help but doubt her own attractiveness. Every other boy would beg for her attention, why was this magician not interested at all? Although slightly upset, she would not give up so easily.
"Then, why don't I stay until the food you order comes out? I can leave afterwards to let Lucius eat in peace."
"Ah, well, I guess that would be fine. I just feel bad about kicking you out at that moment. Why do we not just make dinner plans for another day?"
"No, it's okay. I don't mind." Claire would not let this chance slip by because she knew that the minute, she let him go this time, he would make up millions of other excuses to not eat with her.
"O-okay..." Politely smiling as best as he could, Greyson could not help but curse at her inwardly.
"This girl is like a haunting ghost that just won't let go. Why is she clinging to you so desperately? It can't be that she can't tell you are not interested at all." Lucius' voice echoed inside Greyson's mind.
"I don't know, but I can't completely be impolite to her. Hopefully the food comes quickly." Exasperated, Greyson mentally replied back only hoping that the torture would end faster. Just as Greyson felt resigned to his fate, another voice called out to their table.
"Who might this young lady be? Our young master would like to invite you over for a meal." Looking up, Greyson saw the owner of the voice. Although he acted humble as a servant, one could see the arrogance in his eyes. He had a rat-like face with an inherently grating pitch to his voice, Greyson was amazed that "young master" mentioned did not get annoyed by being followed by such a person. However, he completely welcomed this notion. Nothing would be better than someone taking this obsessed follower of his somewhere far away. Claire was the complete opposite. Sliding her eyes over to the servant, she looked completely displeased by the interruption.
"Go tell your young master that I will not be able to take advantage of his hospitality this time." After saying this phrase, she turned her attention back to Greyson to try to start some small talk. At first, the servant just stood there in surprise as his young master was never rejected under normal circumstances.
"Ah, it must be because young lady is not from around here. My young master is Anshelm Gale, his father is the City Lord of Acernis..." As if figuring out the reason for such quick rejection, his mouth continued moving as he listed out the power backing his young master and even went into a description of what a "genius" his young master is.
From the start, Greyson paid no attention to this annoying servant and actually went about figuring out how to order using the magic tablet in front of him. Tracing his hand over the tablet, he allowed mana to flow through it. The stone tablet lit up with letters explaining the dishes that were available for third floor customers. A lot of them were completely new to Greyson, so he carefully read the descriptions and benefits. Although he gained some money from his master and staying in the academy, Greyson was far from rich. Looking over the prices, he could only go for a more reasonable dish. He chose the Fire Dragon's Breath. A real awe-inspiring, but exaggerated name. The dish contained meat from a Fiery Salamander with some specifically fire element filled magic herbs and plants. The price was still at a reasonable range and Greyson was excited because it was said to contain a high concentration of fire element. In the midst of his meditation, Greyson's fire element advancement fell the most behind. He spent an extended amount of time during the past five years to keep advancing in all his elements at the same speed. This was the limit on multi-element magicians which Lucius spoke about since the beginning. His understanding of all the elements must be at the same level before he can advance stages, there was no possibility to favor one over the other. The natural environment of Snow Country made it inevitable that fire magic became weak compared to his other elements. Lightning was also hard to advance because places naturally rich in lightning elements are very rare.
Apparently to order, all one needed to do was use mana to write the name of the dish on the tablet and the kitchen will receive the order. Following the directions, Greyson quickly wrote out his dish and the dish that Lucius chose. Fascinated by the magic tool, he had already placed Claire and the servant to the back of his mind. He continued playing around with this new magic tool in order to maybe gleam an inspiration for something he could make later. The communication system between this tablet and whatever was displaying his order in the kitchen level could be extremely useful. After looking, he could tell that the menu from earlier used the light element and the order transport should be the spatial element. However, the smaller intricacies were completely beyond his present knowledge. Neat trinkets such as this tablet, face changing masks, even armor for normal soldiers were actually made by a completely different occupation called Magic Mechanic. Normally, magicians who were extremely intelligent but not talented magicians chose this side occupation. They could experiment with mana; however, they were limited by their own small mana stores. The occupation did not really interest Greyson in the beginning, as Mechanics were not paid well. However, the more he saw their convenient magic tools, the more Greyson felt tempted to learn more about the subject. Some combinations between a Magic Blacksmith's practices and a Magic Mechanics practice could create something useful and powerful in his opinion. Not all Blacksmith creations were as efficient and universal as Magic Mechanics. The magic tools that Greyson makes are more tailored with a specific magician in mind, while, tools like this tablet are for anyone to use with multiple uses.
Deep in his own thoughts, Greyson was completely oblivious to the hinting glances that Claire kept sending him in order to ask for some help. Frustrated by Greyson's lack of response, she finally resorted to slightly tapping his foot underneath the table. However, regardless of her efforts, Greyson would not look up or interfere with the situation. He continued fiddling with the tablet with fascination. In truth, he was truly enthralled by these trinkets, but, in Claire's eyes, Greyson was purposefully ignoring her.
This was all until a fight finally broke out and they no longer cared about manners. Claire did not want to yell due to her strict upbringing, however, Mae was not so reserved. Mae and the male servant began to yell insults at each other and grabbed the attention of the distracted Greyson. Finally showing interest, he lifted his head to start listening to the conversation again. Seeing Greyson paying attention, Claire smiled and sighed in relief thinking that he would do something with a show of power or something.
"My miss has already politely refused the invitation. Maybe another time!"
"It should be her honor to be invited by my young master!"
"Stupid toad, why can't you just get lost! Don't you see you are ruining the atmosphere of the restaurant for the rest of the people?!"
"Toad? Ugly commoner, with your poor upbringing, only you would start shouting and cursing." Sniffed the male servant in disdain towards Mae.
"What?!" About to explode with rage, Mae wanted to smack the arrogant look off the man's face.
"Hold on, hold on, quiet down. Amon, where are your manners?" Interrupting the fighting servants, the approaching boy was good-looking in his own right, however, compared to the people who surround Greyson, the newcomer was rather average-looking. The power radiating off the young man was around the advanced level stage two which was not worthy of Greyson's attention, even Claire was stronger than the man. Smiling graciously, the young man tried his best to act suave as he approached the table.
"My apologies to the young lady for my servant's behavior. I have obviously not educated him properly. Amon, quickly apologize!" Taking the situation in stride, he continued acting like a benevolent noble. Greyson could only inwardly snicker. Lucius mentally mentioned to him about Claire's earlier glare which made Greyson believe that this kind, angel-like lady was not as inwardly beautiful as she tried to portray. He did not mind as it only made him more guilt-free for rejecting her, but he could tell this young master had met his match. Even Greyson could see through the lecherous intentions in the young man's eyes behind his act, while he could not tell anything about Claire until her small slip-up. The amateur showing off in front of the master. Who would win?
"I apologize, I meant no offense." Quickly following along, the servant apologized.
"It's okay. I do not hold a grudge. But if you could return now so I can enjoy my meal with my partner." Graceful and magnanimous, Claire acted as if nothing happened. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly felt the urge to puke with her fake act, plus he could clearly tell that she was trying to drag him into this mess. Just as he feared, Anshelm turned his eyes over to Greyson.
"Half-elf? You want to associate yourself with some disgusting mixed-blood?" Disdain filled the young master's expression as he spat those words. Angered by his words, Greyson felt like acting just to make this annoying person leave. However, just as the thought popped up, Greyson's food arrived.
Happily glancing his food, Greyson threw out the thoughts of the two and wanted to quickly get started. Taking his first bite, he could feel the abundant fire elements run through his body and warm his blood while perfecting the element balance in his body. Slightly meditating, his body drifted into a relaxed state as he enjoyed the great food and absorbed the fire elements trying to waste as little as possible.
"HEY!" His wonderful state was suddenly shattered by a loud mana-supported shout. Not just Greyson, multiple people in the room suddenly spat blood as their meditation with their meals was also interrupted. Everyone looked over and glared daggers at the Acernis young master. However, completely forgetting himself, Anshelm continued looking at Greyson.
"Will you get lost? I am trying to enjoy a nice meal with this young lady." Recollecting himself from his earlier anger after being ignored, Anshelm tried his best to ask politely. Greyson, however, was quite passed manners at this point.
"Scram! Don't you know the rules of the restaurant?! People could get seriously injured when their meditation is interrupted so suddenly!" His anger was echoed by the surrounding people as they supported Greyson. Face pale, Anshelm finally realized his mistake as he looked around. Even the guards at the entrance of the staircase walked over.
"Hmph! Uncultured things, Magician Greyson is right. Both of you should quickly leave this place." Mae felt like she could finally speak out. However, Greyson's anger filled eyes soon turned towards Mae and Claire as well.
"Both of you, as well. My food has come, it is time for you to leave as promised. Why don't you both just leave me alone? I need peace when I eat." Not holding back anymore, Greyson quickly indicated for both of the girls to leave as well. It was now time for Claire to blush and realize that her promise had already come into effect as she looked at the food now on the table. Nibbling at her lip, she made a teary-eyed look fishing for sympathy, but none was to be found with Greyson. Finally, unable to shamelessly stay, she got up and walked down the steps. Although Anshelm did not understand the situation, he could tell that the young lady was now upset so it was his chance. Without even needing a second warning, he voluntarily left the third floor of the restaurant rushing after his crush.
Seeing both of them leave, Greyson couldn't help but sigh, "Peace and quiet."
...
After a successful meditation session, Greyson asked around for the tavern that the caravan was supposed to stay at. Not too long after, he had found the place and his assigned room. Flopping onto the bed, Greyson felt physically and mentally exhausted after the array test and the earlier emotional drainage from Claire and the young master. His eyes drooping, he could feel the drowsiness winning him over. However, before he could fall asleep, there was a light knock at the door.
"Sir Greyson? Are you awake?" Recognizing the voice as Eden's, Greyson rubbed his eyes before answering.
"Ms. Ley, is there an issue?" Feeling impatient and tired, he couldn't help but sound brusque.
"Actually, there is something really important I need to speak with you about..." Listening to the graveness in her tone, Greyson finally concentrated and looked up at her curiously.
"Well, come on in and we can talk about it."
Decisively sitting down, Greyson ignored the voice and sat down as if he did not hear her greeting. To no avail, however, as a body sat down across from him at the table. The sweet smell of roses wafted over to his nose, however, all he could feel towards this smell was disgust. Finally glancing up, he saw the last face he wanted to see at this moment. Beauty of the Argentum Family, Claire Argentum, sat down in front him with a wide smile on her face. Mae followed behind like a shadow."Magician Greyson, what a coincidence that you decided to eat here as well. You wouldn't mind if I joined you for dinner, right?" Softly speaking with a slight blush, Claire looked like the picture of feminine gentleness. Many of the other male eyes on the third floor started glancing over, some even starting to drool. But Greyson could only feel frustration as he inwardly rolled his eyes. Obviously, she already sat down, so the question was redundant. If he were a normal person then of course he could not say "no" at this point."Ah, Ms. Argentum, I did not notice you at all earlier. It is such a coincidence that you are eating here, as well. I am sorry to say, however, that I do mind if you join me. You see, my cat here really hates strangers and refuses to eat when they are around. I have not been able to feed him all day, so starving now would really not be okay. There are plenty of other chances to eat. If you let me know beforehand, I will not bring Lucius along." Smoothly spitting complete nonsense, even Greyson felt proud at how quickly he thought of an excuse. Normally mischievous, Lucius inwardly cracked up, however, he still loyally played the part and hid behind Greyson while hissing at Claire. Feeling his partner backing him up, Greyson stroked his fur while pretending to look worried. However, the minute his eyesight turned towards Lucius, Claire glared daggers at Lucius as if she could not wait to strangle the cat. Noting the hatred, Lucius felt rather surprised and decided to tell Greyson about it later. When Greyson's eyes turned back, Claire was back to her original shy, gentle self."Please, you can just call me Claire. Well, Mae could go feed him elsewhere. I wanted to talk to you about some things for the upcoming journey.""Ah, sorry, Lucius has serious separation anxiety. He would never leave with Mae without me around. We have a lot of time to talk about journey related topics later."Hearing such a quick reply, even Claire's facade started cracking as the corner of her mouth slightly twitched. Separation anxiety? This owner and cat traveled with them for so long, of course, Claire already had a handle on some of their habits. The cat would constantly go running off on its own while Greyson stayed in camp. Such blatant lies and rejection were a first for Claire. She could not help but doubt her own attractiveness. Every other boy would beg for her attention, why was this magician not interested at all? Although slightly upset, she would not give up so easily."Then, why don't I stay until the food you order comes out? I can leave afterwards to let Lucius eat in peace.""Ah, well, I guess that would be fine. I just feel bad about kicking you out at that moment. Why do we not just make dinner plans for another day?""No, it's okay. I don't mind." Claire would not let this chance slip by because she knew that the minute, she let him go this time, he would make up millions of other excuses to not eat with her."O-okay..." Politely smiling as best as he could, Greyson could not help but curse at her inwardly."This girl is like a haunting ghost that just won't let go. Why is she clinging to you so desperately? It can't be that she can't tell you are not interested at all." Lucius' voice echoed inside Greyson's mind."I don't know, but I can't completely be impolite to her. Hopefully the food comes quickly." Exasperated, Greyson mentally replied back only hoping that the torture would end faster. Just as Greyson felt resigned to his fate, another voice called out to their table."Who might this young lady be? Our young master would like to invite you over for a meal." Looking up, Greyson saw the owner of the voice. Although he acted humble as a servant, one could see the arrogance in his eyes. He had a rat-like face with an inherently grating pitch to his voice, Greyson was amazed that "young master" mentioned did not get annoyed by being followed by such a person. However, he completely welcomed this notion. Nothing would be better than someone taking this obsessed follower of his somewhere far away. Claire was the complete opposite. Sliding her eyes over to the servant, she looked completely displeased by the interruption."Go tell your young master that I will not be able to take advantage of his hospitality this time." After saying this phrase, she turned her attention back to Greyson to try to start some small talk. At first, the servant just stood there in surprise as his young master was never rejected under normal circumstances."Ah, it must be because young lady is not from around here. My young master is Anshelm Gale, his father is the City Lord of Acernis..." As if figuring out the reason for such quick rejection, his mouth continued moving as he listed out the power backing his young master and even went into a description of what a "genius" his young master is.From the start, Greyson paid no attention to this annoying servant and actually went about figuring out how to order using the magic tablet in front of him. Tracing his hand over the tablet, he allowed mana to flow through it. The stone tablet lit up with letters explaining the dishes that were available for third floor customers. A lot of them were completely new to Greyson, so he carefully read the descriptions and benefits. Although he gained some money from his master and staying in the academy, Greyson was far from rich. Looking over the prices, he could only go for a more reasonable dish. He chose the Fire Dragon's Breath. A real awe-inspiring, but exaggerated name. The dish contained meat from a Fiery Salamander with some specifically fire element filled magic herbs and plants. The price was still at a reasonable range and Greyson was excited because it was said to contain a high concentration of fire element. In the midst of his meditation, Greyson's fire element advancement fell the most behind. He spent an extended amount of time during the past five years to keep advancing in all his elements at the same speed. This was the limit on multi-element magicians which Lucius spoke about since the beginning. His understanding of all the elements must be at the same level before he can advance stages, there was no possibility to favor one over the other. The natural environment of Snow Country made it inevitable that fire magic became weak compared to his other elements. Lightning was also hard to advance because places naturally rich in lightning elements are very rare.Apparently to order, all one needed to do was use mana to write the name of the dish on the tablet and the kitchen will receive the order. Following the directions, Greyson quickly wrote out his dish and the dish that Lucius chose. Fascinated by the magic tool, he had already placed Claire and the servant to the back of his mind. He continued playing around with this new magic tool in order to maybe gleam an inspiration for something he could make later. The communication system between this tablet and whatever was displaying his order in the kitchen level could be extremely useful. After looking, he could tell that the menu from earlier used the light element and the order transport should be the spatial element. However, the smaller intricacies were completely beyond his present knowledge. Neat trinkets such as this tablet, face changing masks, even armor for normal soldiers were actually made by a completely different occupation called Magic Mechanic. Normally, magicians who were extremely intelligent but not talented magicians chose this side occupation. They could experiment with mana; however, they were limited by their own small mana stores. The occupation did not really interest Greyson in the beginning, as Mechanics were not paid well. However, the more he saw their convenient magic tools, the more Greyson felt tempted to learn more about the subject. Some combinations between a Magic Blacksmith's practices and a Magic Mechanics practice could create something useful and powerful in his opinion. Not all Blacksmith creations were as efficient and universal as Magic Mechanics. The magic tools that Greyson makes are more tailored with a specific magician in mind, while, tools like this tablet are for anyone to use with multiple uses.Deep in his own thoughts, Greyson was completely oblivious to the hinting glances that Claire kept sending him in order to ask for some help. Frustrated by Greyson's lack of response, she finally resorted to slightly tapping his foot underneath the table. However, regardless of her efforts, Greyson would not look up or interfere with the situation. He continued fiddling with the tablet with fascination. In truth, he was truly enthralled by these trinkets, but, in Claire's eyes, Greyson was purposefully ignoring her.This was all until a fight finally broke out and they no longer cared about manners. Claire did not want to yell due to her strict upbringing, however, Mae was not so reserved. Mae and the male servant began to yell insults at each other and grabbed the attention of the distracted Greyson. Finally showing interest, he lifted his head to start listening to the conversation again. Seeing Greyson paying attention, Claire smiled and sighed in relief thinking that he would do something with a show of power or something."My miss has already politely refused the invitation. Maybe another time!""It should be her honor to be invited by my young master!""Stupid toad, why can't you just get lost! Don't you see you are ruining the atmosphere of the restaurant for the rest of the people?!""Toad? Ugly commoner, with your poor upbringing, only you would start shouting and cursing." Sniffed the male servant in disdain towards Mae."What?!" About to explode with rage, Mae wanted to smack the arrogant look off the man's face."Hold on, hold on, quiet down. Amon, where are your manners?" Interrupting the fighting servants, the approaching boy was good-looking in his own right, however, compared to the people who surround Greyson, the newcomer was rather average-looking. The power radiating off the young man was around the advanced level stage two which was not worthy of Greyson's attention, even Claire was stronger than the man. Smiling graciously, the young man tried his best to act suave as he approached the table."My apologies to the young lady for my servant's behavior. I have obviously not educated him properly. Amon, quickly apologize!" Taking the situation in stride, he continued acting like a benevolent noble. Greyson could only inwardly snicker. Lucius mentally mentioned to him about Claire's earlier glare which made Greyson believe that this kind, angel-like lady was not as inwardly beautiful as she tried to portray. He did not mind as it only made him more guilt-free for rejecting her, but he could tell this young master had met his match. Even Greyson could see through the lecherous intentions in the young man's eyes behind his act, while he could not tell anything about Claire until her small slip-up. The amateur showing off in front of the master. Who would win?"I apologize, I meant no offense." Quickly following along, the servant apologized."It's okay. I do not hold a grudge. But if you could return now so I can enjoy my meal with my partner." Graceful and magnanimous, Claire acted as if nothing happened. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly felt the urge to puke with her fake act, plus he could clearly tell that she was trying to drag him into this mess. Just as he feared, Anshelm turned his eyes over to Greyson."Half-elf? You want to associate yourself with some disgusting mixed-blood?" Disdain filled the young master's expression as he spat those words. Angered by his words, Greyson felt like acting just to make this annoying person leave. However, just as the thought popped up, Greyson's food arrived.Happily glancing his food, Greyson threw out the thoughts of the two and wanted to quickly get started. Taking his first bite, he could feel the abundant fire elements run through his body and warm his blood while perfecting the element balance in his body. Slightly meditating, his body drifted into a relaxed state as he enjoyed the great food and absorbed the fire elements trying to waste as little as possible."HEY!" His wonderful state was suddenly shattered by a loud mana-supported shout. Not just Greyson, multiple people in the room suddenly spat blood as their meditation with their meals was also interrupted. Everyone looked over and glared daggers at the Acernis young master. However, completely forgetting himself, Anshelm continued looking at Greyson."Will you get lost? I am trying to enjoy a nice meal with this young lady." Recollecting himself from his earlier anger after being ignored, Anshelm tried his best to ask politely. Greyson, however, was quite passed manners at this point."Scram! Don't you know the rules of the restaurant?! People could get seriously injured when their meditation is interrupted so suddenly!" His anger was echoed by the surrounding people as they supported Greyson. Face pale, Anshelm finally realized his mistake as he looked around. Even the guards at the entrance of the staircase walked over."Hmph! Uncultured things, Magician Greyson is right. Both of you should quickly leave this place." Mae felt like she could finally speak out. However, Greyson's anger filled eyes soon turned towards Mae and Claire as well."Both of you, as well. My food has come, it is time for you to leave as promised. Why don't you both just leave me alone? I need peace when I eat." Not holding back anymore, Greyson quickly indicated for both of the girls to leave as well. It was now time for Claire to blush and realize that her promise had already come into effect as she looked at the food now on the table. Nibbling at her lip, she made a teary-eyed look fishing for sympathy, but none was to be found with Greyson. Finally, unable to shamelessly stay, she got up and walked down the steps. Although Anshelm did not understand the situation, he could tell that the young lady was now upset so it was his chance. Without even needing a second warning, he voluntarily left the third floor of the restaurant rushing after his crush.Seeing both of them leave, Greyson couldn't help but sigh, "Peace and quiet."...After a successful meditation session, Greyson asked around for the tavern that the caravan was supposed to stay at. Not too long after, he had found the place and his assigned room. Flopping onto the bed, Greyson felt physically and mentally exhausted after the array test and the earlier emotional drainage from Claire and the young master. His eyes drooping, he could feel the drowsiness winning him over. However, before he could fall asleep, there was a light knock at the door."Sir Greyson? Are you awake?" Recognizing the voice as Eden's, Greyson rubbed his eyes before answering."Ms. Ley, is there an issue?" Feeling impatient and tired, he couldn't help but sound brusque."Actually, there is something really important I need to speak with you about..." Listening to the graveness in her tone, Greyson finally concentrated and looked up at her curiously."Well, come on in and we can talk about it."
