Lili

In the foyer of the White Cat Tavern an elderly man sits behind a counter at the far end of the room. A staircase leading up is to the left of the counter and a large open doorway is to the right. I can hear lots of noise coming from the open doorway, but not to the point where it is overbearing.

I make a quick analysis of the man's appearance and demeanor. <I can tell the man's clothing is made from a nice fabric. The fit is crisp and clean too. His entire being gives off a sense of having an attention to detail. It feels like he has things in hand and is there to provide good service to his customers. It's much more than a regular employee; I can only imagine he's the manager of the hotel. I wonder why he would be manning the front desk.>

I walk up to the man acting like I belong here, even though I still feel out of place in this world. "Do you have a dining room that is open to the public?"

He looks at my clothes briefly, gives me a meaningful smile, and motions towards the open doorway. "Of course, sir, it is right through this entrance. Take any open table you'd like and a waitress will be with you shortly."

I look down and check out my own clothes for the first time since I arrived. My clothes are the same as what I would typically wear to the office everyday. The main exception is that the top buttons of my light blue button-down shirt are undone and my tie is missing. <At some point, while working at my desk, I must have taken my tie off. Even without the tie, this outfit should definitely look more upscale than the common garb of the middle class here. Although it may look nicer, it still stands out from everyone else's attire. Hopefully no incidents will arise because of their peculiarity.>

I nod to him. "Thank you for the help." I glance at the clock and notice that it is getting close to midnight.

<I am a little surprised to find the restaurant still open so late at night.>

"Please let me know if you need anything further." He says to my back as I walk past him. I give the man behind me a wave as thanks.

The dining room is quite large, easily over a hundred square meters. The decor is similar to that of a typical English tavern. One end holds a bar with plenty of stools lined up. Almost all of the stools are filled with customers at this point in time. In the center of the room is a half dozen large round tables with plenty of chairs around each of them. The perimeter of the room holds a few booths and smaller tables meant for smaller groups. Most of the people are at the bar or sitting at one of the center tables. Only a few tables around the edge of the room have seats filled.

<Although this may not be the busiest time for this restaurant, they should be making a profit even this late into the night. I am surprised by how active the night life is.>

As the old man indicated, there is no hostess to direct me. I find an empty table away from the bar and take a seat. As I look around, I can see a waitress moving about and delivering food and drinks to customers. She's wearing a uniform that is slightly revealing. Her short skirt, stockings, and slim fitting vest give off an allure that makes it hard to look away.

After I get her attention, she speaks out loudly enough for me to hear but not be rude, "One of us will be with you in just a minute, sir. Please hold on for a few more moments." She also proffers a brilliant smile, but her eyes betray a sense of timidness to them.

<She is certainly pretty in her own respect. I remember reading that waitresses in taverns would sometimes work as a sort of prostitute in medieval times. I wonder if that is the case here as well.>

Shaking my head, I try and reorient my thinking to something more proper. I close my eyes and distract myself by focusing my mind on what kind of food I can expect to find here. After a couple of minutes of various English dishes flitting by, I hear someone walking up to my table and take a look to see who it is.

Upon opening my eyes and glancing at the approaching figure, my mind freezes, stunned speechless.

An entrancing woman, in a waitress uniform, stands before me with an alluring smile. She is about 170 cm tall with shoulder-length light blond hair. My first thoughts were that even if she had feathered wings behind her I would still only be able to assume that she disguised herself as an angel and was actually a succubus sent by the devil to corrupt all men on the planet.

My brain spurns into overdrive after its momentary hiccup. Images fly through my head, and I can see myself walking up to her and kissing those soft, supple lips. Wrapping my arms around her, and meandering my hands down the small of her back to her ass cheeks. I envision grasping onto her firm, slim waist and then sliding my hands up to her bountiful breasts. Cupping those wonderful mountains of nature, prominently displayed by that incredibly form-fitting uniform. I think about lowering my head to her neck and kissing that silky smooth, slightly tanned skin of hers all the way down to her magnetic cleavage. Images of her enraptured face race through my mind. Those sparkling gray eyes and that cute little nose warped in pure pleasure. As my mind begins to pull itself back into reality, my gaze finally lands on a pair of fuzzy wolf-life ears popping out of her head. They give a slight twitch as I stare at them. My attention is then drawn to a beautiful tail that sways back and forth as she walks up to the table.

My mind finally pulls itself out of the gutter but only a single word comes to mind, "Stunning." I unintendedly say it aloud in English.

She makes it to the table and tilts her head in confusion. She asks in a professional manner, "Excuse me? I don't think I know that language."

I can only hope that my expression did not betray all my filthy fantasies as I collect my thoughts.

<I am sure she is used to a certain amount of attention by this point. With her looks along with this job, how can she not be. If I have any chance of getting to know her better, I need to make a good impression.>

"It is the language of my home country, a place so distant no one here knows of it."

"Intriguing. I wonder, you wouldn't have been cursing me, would you?" She coyly asks.

"On the contrary, where I am from there is a legend about a woman with unsurpassed beauty. Her allure so famous that she has been known for millennia as having 'a face that launched a thousand ships'. Kings were willing to wage war to win her over."

I stop for a moment, as she fully absorbs my words. I continue after realizing that her head is still tilted in confusion. "She was also described more succinctly by another word, 'stunning'. I just realized that I had not truly known the meaning of the word, until now."

Her demeanor shifted as she dropped the practice coquettishness and changed to a sincerely embarrassed expression. "The certainly was the more unique pickup line I have heard tonight. Well then, can I get you anything?"

I try to recompose myself into a more dignified manner, but it is such a significant change that there is also an abrupt change in the atmosphere between us.

"I apologize if I was rude there. I am not just new to the tavern but also the city. Could you please help me figure out what I can buy with this?" I drop the few bills that I borrowed from Tanner onto the table.

Taking a glance at the small amount of money on the table, she also recomposes herself with a professional smile. "With that you could upgrade the basic meal set with an extra portion of meat. The basic meal set consists of hot meat and vegetable soup of the day, bread, and a light mead drink.

The food seemed pretty standard, but I had never seen mead before. <Mead is a slightly alcoholic drink made with honey as the base, if I remember correctly. I think I read somewhere that clean drinking water was but a dream during the industrial revolution. Mead and beer was drunk like water in the modern age. I think it's too much to hope for a nice glass of water anytime soon.>

"Sounds great! I will just move ahead with that then." I pause for a moment as she nods and mentally records my order. "Excuse me, where I am from, it is common to trade names with waitstaff. My name is Mark Philam, can I get yours?"

"Of course, it would be my pleasure."

She does have a way with words. It is only natural for this profession though.

"My name is Lili Dreyer, nice to meet you!" She bows slightly.

"To you as well, thank you for serving as my waitress." I respond with the most thankful expression I can give.

<I may need to practice my smile more. I doubt it is very comforting for others. It is still uncomfortable to wear, that's for sure.>

She heads off to help a customer quickly before heading back to the kitchen.

<Now that I think about it, she must have been in the kitchen when I walked in. There is no way I would have missed her while I was looking around the room.>

A sense of desire wells up inside me again. Different than when I first glimpsed Lili. Similar to my first meeting with Mai.

<I need to start being smarter, become better, grow roots in this society. I need to be able to capture their heart and protect them from the rest of the world. I need to be able to keep them both happy at the same time. How can I go about keeping more than one woman and having them all be happy together?>

Desire shifts to resolve. My mind revs up, once again, into solving this predicament.

<I can only come to one conclusion after all this. I have never been more motivated by anything else in my entire life.>