6. Tourists on a Date (part 1)

Character : Nathan Fiore, Tourists on a Date

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The date was quite fun.

Lily and I went to places that we'd normally visit as tourists. Last night, Sir Jacob and Baltra gave me a list of places that I should visit when I'm in Ellen, and Uncle Josh the chef added some of his favorite picks as well. In the end, I was the one who suggested most of the places we visit during the trip, but Lily still enjoyed it.

She doesn't really know too much about the city because it's only been a couple days since she came here. She didn't come here alone because she came with her sister, and she was mostly staying with her sister while also doing her job as a waiter at the inn.

When asked why she didn't travel around the city with her sister, her answer was…

"Well, my sister was simply too busy with her work. Meanwhile, I was too lazy to go out by myself…" Lily said sometime during the date.

The places we visited were mostly public entertainment places. We get to visit a zoo that has all sorts of animals from all around the land, and there is even a large aquarium with all sorts of fishes from Valkaria. Lily even gotta tell me what kind of fish that she often sees in her hometown, and I listened to it all quite closely since she was so excited about them. 

She just likes the fishes, and I find liking animals to be quite fun.

At noon, we went to visit the park that Lily mentioned. Unfortunately, it was really hot since it was sunny, and the desert heat is really just unbearable for a walk under the sun. As a result, we just hung around the market area that is within an enclosed space to see just what kind of things are being sold in this market.

Now isn't really the right time for us to buy gifts for the people at home. Once we pass the entrance exam, we will have to stay here for at least a semester before we have any chance to go home. So, we decided to just look around for some stuff while also deciding what to buy once we're going home at the end of the semester.

We ate lunch at a place Lily suggested, and the food there indeed has all sorts of menus from various places in Avenor. But shockingly, all of the meals we ate were in the house, and Lily explained to me how this restaurant was actually related to her sister's work as a merchant.

Whenever Lily came to eat here, she would eat anything for free. And for some reason, I felt bad because the food I ordered was quite expensive.

"If you can eat for free, then why do you even bother working as a waitress?" I asked Lily after we ate the free lunch.

"Ehh~…"

Yeah, she never answered straight.

There are just so many secrets to her that I'm just too worried to ask because it might ruin our date. This fun moment we are having is already quite fragile considering she and I have only known each other for a few hours. I don't want to break everything by asking her to spill her secrets.

And besides… after spending hours with her, I think I already have a guess.

During the date, I can sense at least fifteen pairs of eyes watching us from all over the place. From the rooftops, the people walking by, even the workers of certain shops are keeping an eye on us as we enjoyed our date.

Lily might not notice them, but it's not too difficult for me to find them. They all have this intention of staying on guard of my presence, and I knew right away that they were there to protect Lily.

At one point during our walk in the middle of a really crowded street in the afternoon, all I did was glance my eye to a direction and I can already find ten people with their eyes casually watching us from many places. 

Man… I remember when people used to be this stupidly protective towards me.

Must be difficult to live like that, doesn't it? 

Princess of Valkaria?

"Nathan? Are you okay?" Lily asked me out of nowhere, and I hurriedly snapped out of my daze.

We were buying a cup of ice cream from a street vendor. The ice cream looked colorful and yummy, so Lily pulled me there to buy one for each of us. She is also the one paying it, so I don't really mind.

I noticed that Lily was handing me a cup of the strawberry ice cream that I ordered, and I grabbed the cup filled with pink ice cream that she was handing me.

"Sorry, I just thought of something rather funny." I said with a slight bit of truth in it, and Lily turned curious.

"Oh? What might that be?"

"Remember when I said the first prince was really handsome? Yeah, I lied." I said with a big smirk on my face, and Lily knew immediately that I'm going to tell a really bad joke.

"Is that so…? Then, what's the truth?" Lily asked with a little bored tone.

"The truth is that I am so much more handsome." My grin grew wider from the really unfunny joke, but I just can't bring myself to continue lying about that guy being better than me.

And hearing the stupid joke, Lily actually laughed. Really hard.

"You know what? I've never seen the first prince before, but you might be right!" She said while holding back her laughter, and I became really surprised that she even laughed that hard.

"Come on. That's not supposed to be that funny." I said with a hint of annoyance, and Lily only giggled.

"Guys really just can't bring themselves to lose at one another, huh?" Lily turned around hurriedly and took a big chomp at her chocolate ice cream.

I chuckled at what she said and ate a scoop of my own ice cream as well, and I found the strawberry taste to be rather nice.

"Oh, this is good." I muttered after tasting the ice cream, and Lily became interested in my taste.

"I certainly wasn't expecting a competitive guy like you would like a pink strawberry ice cream." She commented while pointing at my ice cream, and I simply snorted.

"What's wrong with liking something sweet?"

"Let me have a try."

Nonchalantly, without permission, Lily just used her spoon to take a massive scoop of my pink strawberry ice cream. She put them all into her mouth and let the ice cream melt, and she held her mouth from how amazing the ice cream tasted.

"This is sho~ good!!" Lily smiled so wide after tasting the strawberry ice cream, and I stared at the cup of ice cream on my hand.

She just… used her spoon to take a scoop from my ice cream.

It's not even weird. It's just dangerous. Call it royal and rich behavior, but it's really bad. Some sicknesses can be transferred that easily from a simple share of saliva…

Well, it's not like I can get sick anyway.

"Are you really going to eat that?" Lily asked with a really judging face, and I immediately realized that she knew what I was thinking. "It had already touched my spoon, you know?"

Seeing that she is being so annoying about it, I wore an annoyed smirk on my face. "Oh, so you do understand what you just did!?"

"Give it to me! I'm not letting some stranger eat my saliva!"

"It's my ice cream! It's your fault for using your spoon!"

"Weirdo! Pervert!"

And that's… how I ended up giving her my ice cream.

The people around us were literally staring at me for being weird, and I had no choice if I wanted to avoid any problems with the crowd. I had to sacrifice my tasty ice cream to her, and I knew she never cared about her saliva on my ice cream.

She just wanted my ice cream all for herself. So cunning...

"Ugh… I think I wanted to puke…" Lily suddenly muttered on our way back to the inn, and I laughed evilly.

"That's what you get for eating my ice cream."

"Did you poison it!? I swear you put something in it!"

"It's your fault for eating too much dairy product! You also drank a massive glass of milk at the restaurant we visited."

Hearing that second point I made, Lily quickly realized her mistake. "Ah… that's true. Well, I guess I won't behead you for poisoning me!"

Please don't joke about that. I know what you're capable of.

"Looks like we're here." I said as soon as we arrived at the inn, and Lily went over to the door.

"What are you going to do for the evening?" She asked before entering, and I just lifted my shoulder.

"Not sure… There's actually a nearby restaurant where I'm thinking I can hang out. I met a couple knights there, and the chef was nice to talk to." I told Lily about the knights and Uncle Josh, and she turned quite interested.

"I see… well, sadly, I have work to clean up the empty rooms tonight. I might see you later if I was at the lobby like yesterday." Lily told me about her duties, and I understand her intentions.

She has some business to attend to after the evening. I get it, being a royalty is hard.

"In that case, I'll see you later. If not tonight, then tomorrow." I waved my hand at her, and Lily opened the door.

"Same thing tomorrow? We still have plenty of places to visit."

"We'll see, I guess."

Lily nodded at me and entered the door, leaving me outside. The street has become quite bustling with people, so I didn't really feel lonely. But with Lily gone, I still feel a bit lonely.

In that case, let's meet some new people again! Onto Uncle Josh's place we go.

And so, I decided to start heading to the restaurant. To my surprise though, the situation there was quite the surprise for me.

Today is Sunday. It's the most important day of the weekend, and there are more families and people out and about to enjoy the weekend. I wasn't expecting this, even though I knew there were quite a lot of people at the places Lily and I visited.

And entering the restaurant, I knew immediately that Uncle Josh was in trouble.

"Little man! Come over here quickly!" Uncle Josh shouted at me as soon as I opened the door, and I had no idea what I'm about to experience.

He called me over to the back, and I followed behind him to walk past the door at the far end of the restaurant. As I walked through the tables, I realized that every single chair and table in the restaurant was occupied by people, and I noticed that Uncle Josh was all alone in this situation.

"Have you ever served as a waiter before?" He asked me as soon as I arrived at the back room, where all his ingredients are stored.

"N-No, I never had any--"

"Then, you'd be one today! I need your help, those people out there are hungry to hell!" Uncle Josh finally admitted his distress, and I knew immediately that there is only one thing for me to do in this situation.

"Oh. Then, good luck with that--"

"Woi!! I need extra hands!!"

Haha, he really is in trouble.

"I guess I can help out by bringing the food. Please don't ask me to cook." I said while rubbing the back of my head, but Uncle Josh is already on the action.

"Wear this." He handed me a whole set of chef clothes, and I was very much surprised to find them to be at my size.

"Your job is to just deliver the food to the people. You also need to take a note of whatever they are ordering, and then notify me about it. Do you have a pen and paper?" Uncle Josh asked me, and I quickly took out both a pen and a small notebook from my storage bracelet.

"On it."

"Good. Now, let's go. Ask the tables one by one that have no food or drinks on top of them and take note of whatever they are ordering." Uncle Josh explained my duties to me, and I nodded at him. "Note down the menu name down to the last detail, even the things they are asking for. Grab the list of the menus on the tall table."

"Yes, sir."

Uncle Josh nodded at me, and he started grabbing a lot of the ingredients he might need for some of the menus. Meanwhile, I hurriedly ran out of the door and started looking for the list he mentioned. The list was indeed on top of the tall table next to a customer, and I quickly grabbed it.

I then went to the closest customer and asked them what they were ordering, and they listed out the things that they ordered. I made sure to number the tables one by one so that I can remember them, and I noted down the exact names of the dishes they are ordering.

One table requested so many special additions and treatments to their orders, and I still noted down everything. But when I came up to Uncle Josh who is cooking, he mentioned some treatments are impossible since they might cost more. I ended up apologizing to the customers who requested them, and thankfully they understood.

This was my first ever working as a waiter, or even working as a servant for other people. I have been on the other side of the service for a very long time, and I was not expecting this experience to ever come. I guess adventuring on your own really does bring unexpected moments and experiences like this.