Inviting Mara Out

Amber, Mara and I were now heading towards one of the upscale restaurants that was supposed to serve organic foods.

Mara raised an eyebrow at me, "Are you really sure you want me along? I already said that the information was a gift so such a thing isn't necessary."

I grinned, "You don't need to see this as a repayment, it's just me inviting you out to have dinner with us~"

"... Fine… In that case, I shall accept your invitation gratefully."

Amber spoke up from my side, "Don't let her fool you, Tera, she can't wait to eat the food as well~"

Mara rolled her eyes, "That's beside the point. While it is true that I am indeed looking forward to the meal, it does not change the fact that I feel that this was too extravagant for me if it is intended to be a compensation for the information I gave."

"Aww~ Now she's being shy~ Don't worry Mara, you can just see this as Tera trying to get you into bed~"

"That would have been a good reason if she hadn't already got me into her bed."

"Ahahaha! In that case, what do you have to worry about? Don't be shy!"

"This isn't… Forget it."

I think this is the first time I've seen Amber rile up Mara like that… Usually it was the other way around.

I guess this just means that Mara was actually really embarrassed or something for her to be losing out in the banter like that.

Then again… We were treating her to a really expensive dinner after all.

From what Amber told me, a meal at the place we were going could easily cost half a million Credits and it wouldn't be strange for it to even go up to a million.

What made it even more scary was the fact that this wasn't even the most expensive place in this part of the station… The place we were going could still be considered relatively affordable in the organic restaurants category.

Despite that, the restaurant even sent a small limo to pick us up when we made the reservation, the car interior looking like a really high class lounge like those you might find in a high end club.

Normally there would be a dress code when eating here but since we went for the private room option, it wasn't really enforced for us.

Talk about luxury indeed…

Now I'm thinking that if I ever get tired of being a Mercenary, I could probably just open my own restaurant and make a living through cooking instead.

We reached the restaurant that was located in a rather upscale part of the station.

Unlike the busy and more simple streets that I had been seeing so far, this part of the station was clean and everything looked new and sparkly.

Just stepping out of the limo and onto the street made it feel like we've entered another world instead.

"Thanks for the ride!" Amber waved at our chauffeur who was holding the door for us.

The man gave a curt bow before closing the door behind us and driving away, leaving us at the front door of the restaurant that was located on a tall building that stretched high up into the air.

The restaurant itself occupied the highest floor and they had a specific elevator that would take us directly to that floor itself.

"Man, I always wondered what the fuss was about for this place, I guess this explains part of it," Amber mused while looking up at the tower in front of us.

Mara snorted, "Sure you were. You were just happy to eat all that synthfood all the time and even mocked people who wasted money on organic food saying it was an unnecessary expenditure."

"Ugh… Hey, I didn't know what good food tastes like back then, ok? You can't blame me!"

Mara simply rolled her eyes at that.

I chuckled, "Alright, alright. Let's just go in first, shall we?"

The two of them nodded and we went in through the main entrance of the building.

There was a man dressed in a suit waiting there and he gave a deep bow when we entered.

"Welcome to The Violet Avenue, my ladies. I am Thomas and I shall be your server for this evening."

As he was straightening himself, I noticed a barcode at the side of his neck, which told me that this guy was an android.

They're using androids as servers I see.

He did not wait for any response from us and stepped aside to gesture to a lift located in one of the corners, "Please follow me to take the special access lift to your reserved room."

We nodded at him and he led the way to it, the doors of the lift opening up without Thomas visibly doing anything. I don't even see any buttons or anything like that around the lift to operate it and even entering it revealed that the lift was just a glass box with no control panels.

I'm guessing he's interfaced with the controls of the lift and he operates it entirely through his AI which means that normal people wouldn't be able to get in here without an android escorting them.

"We shall now be heading to the private room floors, please take care as the lift will be ascending shortly."

The doors closed and the lift began its ascent, the glass walls of the lift giving us an unobstructed view of the scenery outside.

There were lights, holograms and billboards dotted around the buildings around us, really giving off the sci-fi feel here.

The ascent of the elevator was also completely silent and smooth, which made me realise that aside from the floor and doors that were opaque, the roof was also see-through and there were no cables pulling us up.

I wonder how does this lift operate? 

The lift soon came to a stop and the doors slid open, revealing a corridor with several doors at either side.

"This way please," Thomas gestured, leading the way towards one of the doors.

As we were moving down the corridor, one of the doors opened and a well dressed man stepped out with four flamboyantly dressed women accompanying him. Right behind them was a female android server who was serving as their waiter.

The man noticed us almost immediately and I could feel his gaze roaming around me which gave me a shudder.

Damn… Is that how it feels like when someone checks you out like that?

One of the women behind the man turned up her chin at us, "I didn't know the standards of this place fell so low that even riff raff could eat here."

Another woman beside her nodded, "Mmhmm, that's why I said we should go to the other one in Central instead. At least that one had some standards and certainly wouldn't let things like these pop up."

The last woman sighed, "They should really implement a screening process and not let things like these come here in the first place."

Obviously those three were talking about us since there wasn't anyone else around.

I was wondering how the others would react but surprisingly, neither of them showed any reaction to their comments. They didn't even look in their direction either.

The women were obviously upset that we had completely ignored them and looked like they were about to say more but the man leading them stepped in front of us.

He looked at me, "Be part of my harem, I'll make sure you live a good life."

…

What the fuck?

I was so stunned by his words that I couldn't even react, which was just fine because Amber immediately wrapped her arms around mine.

"Sorry buddy~ But she's not someone who joins other people's harems! She's the one who has a harem! I would say that you're welcome to join hers but I'm afraid we don't welcome guys!"

The man frowned, "I can shower you with Credits you would never be able to earn in your entire lives. So why not?"

I recovered myself, "I don't need someone to earn Credits for me thank you very much. How do you think we got to come here? Certainly not by relying on charity. That's why no thanks, I'll not live on someone else's dime."

"Ah, I see… I suppose that was a little rude of me, I apologise. Enjoy your evening, ladies."

Oh? That's it? I thought he would become even more demanding and may even resort to physical force or something. But after getting rejected, he simply patted himself before walking towards the lift.

The women behind him scowled at us, or more specifically me in particular, before turning up their chins and strolled past us without another word.

Thomas continued leading us down the corridor as if nothing had happened while that group entered the lift that brought them back downstairs.

Seriously though… What the heck was that?