"Oh, a letter from the Redfall Family... I have a veritable string of unusual guests today." Sanches muttered, reading the letter, then he squinted, "Agh, I can't see what's written here, my eyesight has been failing me lately."
Sanches pulled out his glasses, and his eyes went wide. He looked at the letter several times as well as at Zayne.
"Young man, are you a Traveler?" Sanches asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, Miss Veronika said I could get a decent suit here. My present appearance is not at all appropriate for a banquet." Zayne said modestly, rubbing the back of his head with a slight smile on his face.
The girl was surprised. There were already several Travelers in their town, but Zayne was the first with connections to a noble family.
"I see... Well, you have a good build, I can already see which suit would fit you perfectly, but you'll have to wait until I'm finished with my current client." Sanches said respectfully, returning the letter to Zayne.
"Sure." Zayne nodded.
The wait was quite long, for it was not until an hour later that Saches was free, but Zayne was not bored at all. He was interested in looking at the luxurious dresses and expensive suits as well as the people who sometimes came in and picked up their orders. They were mostly wealthy people getting ready for tonight's banquet.
"Mr. Zayne, thank you for waiting. I am now open to receiving you in my workshop if you'll follow me." Sanches said respectfully as he pointed to the old wooden door with his hand.
Crackle.
At the same moment, a girl with an unusual but extremely attractive appearance emerged from there. Her long azure hair reached to the waist of her puffy dress, and her unique amethyst eyes seemed to be able to enchant anyone along with her gentle smile.
Zayne gulped, staring at the girl in a daze. He never thought he would find himself in this situation, but he couldn't help himself since this girl looked better than the models in his world.
"Oh, Mr. Sanches, it looks like you have an unusual visitor, doesn't it?" The girl said as the corners of her lips went up slightly.
"Hmm? Do you two know each other?" Sanches tilted his head in confusion.
"Not really, or rather, I already know who he is, but to him, I'm still an unknown person." The girl giggled, walked over to Zayne, and held out her hand to him.
Zayne mechanically shook her hand.
"Mr. Zayne..." Sanches muttered, "That's not what you're supposed to do..."
"Agh?" Only then did Zayne realize that he should have kissed her palm, so he was quickly about to correct himself, but the girl stopped him.
"That's not necessary. I wanted to feel the hands of the one who purged the last Chaos Hearth and killed the Terror Grade Monster." The girl said calmly, though not many people could know about it.
"What...?" Sanches took off his hat and held it to his chest.
"My name is Lucia Lareso, nice to meet you Mr. Zayne." Lucia said courteously and bowed slightly, lifting her dress.
'Lareso Family...? If I'm not mistaken they will send two of their people to the Orc Dungeon, right? Zayne muttered inwardly.
"Mr. Zayne, I've heard rumors from the Redfall Family that you have performed well enough to be fifth. I would expect nothing less from you, though." Lucia said quietly so that only Zayne could hear her, then she turned to Sanches, "Get to work. If you don't mind, I'll wait here for Mr. Zayne until you're finished."
Sanches blinked a few times with his eyes wide open until he nodded, "Sure, Mr. Zayne, it's time to pick out your outfit."
"Yes!"
...
After a while, Zayne emerged from the room, but a completely different person. He was wearing a black formal suit, a dark blue shirt, and tight pants. The whole outfit emphasized his broad shoulders and bright blue eyes which were most noticeable against the black color.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Lucia clapped her hands quickly several times with a sly smile.
"That looks wonderful! Mr. Sanches, thank you for picking out such a stunning suit for my date for tonight's banquet." Lucia tilted her head, with a pleasant smile.
"Agh...? What...?" Zayne was confused, he didn't realize if Lucia was serious.
"Mr. Zayne, is something wrong? Do you mind?" Lucia asked, touching her lip as sadness appeared in her eyes.
Zayne was speechless until he shook his head, "Of course not! I just didn't expect such an offer from you."
"Fine." Lucia's eyes sparkled rapidly along with a sly smile on her face.
"Mr. Zayne, about the price, your costume is worth 300 Gold Coins." Sanches said uncertainly since he didn't want to disturb Lucia.
'300 Gold Coins for one suit...?!' Zayne's eyes went wide since he realized that it was practically half his salary, 'Agh... After all, this is a store for nobles, so I'll just have to put up with it.'
Zayne struggled to lose such a large sum, took a deep breath, and headed for the exit.
"Mr. Sanches, see you later!" Lucia said goodbye and quickly ran up to Zayne, suddenly grabbing his hand and pressing her bosom against it.
'Is she doing that on purpose...?' Zayne flinched, trying to figure out what Lucia was doing, he hadn't expected such a thing from an aristocrat.
"Zayne, would you mind waiting until the banquet at my private residence? I'd like to spend more time with you." Lucia said sincerely, but the sly smile on her face went nowhere.
"Well, I guess there's no point in saying no." Zayne sighed.
"Great!" Lucia exclaimed, clinging to Zayne even tighter.
They reached Lucia's mansion an hour later, all the while Lucia unashamedly held Zayne's hand tightly, and even the stares of passersby didn't bother her at all.
'How strange... the Lareso Family is surely one of the most influential Families in this city, yet we were walking and she was not accompanied by guards. Doesn't she care about her safety at all.' Zayne pondered as he entered the grounds of the mansion.
Lucia immediately took him into the main hall, which overlooked her garden. The maids quickly brought coffee and desserts, and strangely these desserts were the same ones Zayne had eaten that night when Victoria treated him.
"Isn't that..." Zayne muttered in disbelief.
"Don't look so surprised, I asked Alden and Veronika to tell me as much about you as they could." Lucia smiled pleasantly.
"Agh...? But when did you have time? You weren't at Redfall Manor yesterday and I left there late last night..." Zayne became wary. He may have been mesmerized by her beauty at first, but now things were beginning to get weird.
"Hehehe, you seem like a pretty neat person." Lucia giggled, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand, "Don't you get it? I'm on a mission to destroy the Orc Dungeon, on the Lareso Family side, so early this morning I had a meeting with Alden, and Veronika is always by his side."
"Wait... Does that mean you were the one who picked the other two members of our team?" Zayne asked with a curious expression.
"Yes! You're right!" Lucia replied cheerfully, "However, let's talk about that later. Right now I want to enjoy your company as well as your stories about Chaos Hearth."
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Hmm...?"
"Describe, how you fought the Terror Grade Monster? What did you experience then? Did you enjoy killing?" Lucia said calmly as a flame of madness appeared in her eyes as well as pleasure.