Chapter 40: Sudden Conflict

While the middle-aged man had his thoughts, Marius and his family moved towards the counter. Upon noticing the silence, he didn't even pay it any mind as he brought Ria and Grevlin towards Liola.

"Mama, why are they stwaring at us?" Little Rose asked as her large and cute eyes saw the strangers looking at them.

Ria poked her cheek and replied, "Because they think my little Rose is pretty."

Little Rose's face turned red as she heard those words; she looked at her mother and asked, "Really?"

Ria kissed her forehead and answered with a loving look, "That's right; my adorable daughter is the prettiest."

Little Rose felt happy hearing her mother's words; she hugged her tightly while staring at the strangers with an excited and innocent look. A few onlookers couldn't help but feel sweet on the inside as some of them spoke to each other.

"How cute? Such an adorable child, she's so pretty when young, can you imagine what she'll grow like in the future?"

"Indeed, such a fine woman, and fine child, I wonder, where did they come from?"

As more and more persons noticed Marius's group, some spoke good things while others had envy and jealous looks. Marius shook his head and paid them no mind, but as for Ria, she glanced at him and spoke with a teasing look, "Oh, honey, what's wrong? Are you still feeling jealous because of this little attention?"

"Haha, as if, I just thought that we might be bothered during our days from here on out."

Marius replied in a low voice that reached only Ria's ears; Ria made a sweet smile, one that seemed no different from a blossoming rose in a verdant field that even more attention from those in the tavern as she replied, "Hehe, so what? We can call it the adversity of a new life."

"Indeed," Marius said as he glanced at her and held her slender palm; a few men who had lustful looks glared at Marius as he saw him holding Ria's hand.

As if someone didn't like it, a man slammed his desk while speaking to his company, "Che! It's like watching a beautiful rose stuck in a pile of shit; some people shouldn't reach too high."

A few others also shared this sentiment, but they only voiced their opinions in silence.

Liola, who sat around the counter, stared at them with a hint of surprise. Her eyes beamed as she saw Marius, Ria, and their children walked over; she made a slight bow and spoke, "Good morning; I trust you all had a splendid night?"

Marius was about to reply, but Ria suddenly spoke and replied, "Indeed, we did; it was a lovely night."

When Liola heard Ria's words, she looked at her more keenly, noticing the look in her eyes; feeling a bit awkward, Liola promptly changed the topic with a light cough.

"Ah, yes, I'm sure you all did, so what can I do for you both on this fine morning? Are you ready to eat? Or do you want to continue yesterday's discussion?"

Marius gave Ria a look as cleared his through; Ria rolled her eyes, saying nothing as Marius spoke, "Right, I'll just do both; we can settle the rest of the details right now for lodging here and order at the same time."

Liola smiled at this as she spoke, "Great, here is the menu; you can have your wife and children pick any table that's empty and put the order out to the nearest waiter while we finalize the other procedures."

"Perfect," Marius said as they took the menus and passed it over to Ria.

Ria gave him a good look before snorting as she walked away with Grevlin and Little Rose towards a table with three chairs.

Marius shook his head at this and shifted his eyes onto Liola as he spoke, "Good, shall we get started."

Liola nodded as she hurriedly dug up some documents to prepare for the registration while speaking.

"Alright, so for longer stays we usually offer three packages, from weekly, monthly or quarterly, each having a set discount of krills based on the number of people staying and its duration. Typically, for weekly, you would need to pay one hundred small krills or one medium-sized krills for the first package of one week, but..."

While Marius spoke with Liola, Ria had already arrived within the vicinity of the table; while walking, she couldn't help but glance in the direction of the strange middle-aged man, who acted as if he wasn't looking at them. However, she merely ignored him as she focused on the nearing table.

Normally, all would be well, but for some unusual reason, when she was passing a nearby table, her elbow had somehow contacted a jar which fell from the table and crashed onto the wooden floor.

With a loud sound, the jar shattered into fragments spilling its contents; Ria made a look of apology as she saw this, facing the direction of the large silhouette seated at the table as she spoke in her soft voice.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't see it; please forgive my mistake."

Little Rose, seeing this, also followed her mother's actions from her arms, making an adorable smile as she spoke, "Sworry big uncle!"

After both mother and daughter spoke kind words, Ria bowed slightly, showing her ample chest before returning to normal as she held onto Little Rose and walked towards the table again.

Grevlin also did a light bow and followed them; many others in the inn thought it normal and wouldn't fuss over such things. However, the atmosphere soon turned strange as most persons knew the identity of the person whose jar had shattered.

These persons had grim looks when they saw the scene; they knew things wouldn't end pretty, even more so when the person sat around his table for a while, not speaking.

Boom! Soon after, a heavy sound sounded as if something large stood up, causing most in the inn to swallow nervously as the new scene arose.

****

Author's Note:

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