Reed would never have suspected something like this to happen, not in a million years. It was far too removed from the realm of comprehension. He was at a loss of words; Whenever he attempted to process the situation, his brain would short circuit and boil over like someone who'd left the stove on for too long.
He internally melted into a puddle on the side as he walked down the cobbled street with a stoic expression on his face. The maiden beside him had a smile wider than the sky as she held onto his arm. He, on the other hand, felt that he had stumbled into some bizarre, godforsaken reality...
Yes, indeed. Today ended up being a special day for the young boy. It was his first date with another person, more importantly, a member of the fairer sex.
The only problem was that his date was, well..... his Mom (title subject to change).
He couldn't deny that for the most part, it'd been a very enjoyable and refreshing experience so far. How long had it been since he had taken part in something like this? A day free of any form of work, stress, or annoyances? Admittedly, Reed still felt somewhat taken back by the entire situation.
Sure, she's beautiful, gentle, and wise like a perfect mother. And yes, she's got a keen sense of humor, too. Her stories of Lu'um's childhood are especially funny. But, even still...
Reed swallowed nervously as he struggled to maintain his facade of indifference. A bountiful mountain pressed itself against his arm, something that he had not expected in the slightest. A delicate, mature fragrance tickled his nose; floral notes resembling lilies, roses, and jasmines clung onto his clothes as he fought for dear life.
Ahhhhhhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
His soundless screams echoed across the vast and barren wasteland made up his inner mind. He'd been fighting against himself for the last hour since they'd started touring Citlai's sights in disguise.
Never had he experienced what he felt now — endless embarrassment — as he walked down a quiet, secluded street in an old district of the city. It made zero sense; not once had he'd been affected like this when he'd been intimate with Lu'um, Astrid, or even Violett, and they were all gorgeous, beautiful girls in their own right.
Is it because of her particular experience, beauty, or charm?! What form of devilry is this?! It was like he was being unintentionally tempted by the queen of all sirens. Reed gritted his teeth and forced his horrible thoughts down into the abyss.
And so, he remained in that sweet and horrifying purgatory until they arrived at a certain place. Something had caught her interest enough that she stopped walking.
"...See that right over there? The old building with the small blue roof? That's an extremely famous restaurant, reserved only for special members of the noble caste. Back in the day, though, it was anything but famous... it was just a quaint little thing."
Reed stared at the little restaurant and felt that something was special about it. It looked like it'd survived an era, or three. The old, weathered stones that made up the building's wall looked like they'd been through countless years of hardship. Even the door looked ancient, at least older than he; it appeared to be nothing more than a large, beaten piece of oak that had been shaped into a door.
The entire building looked grossly out of place amongst the newer buildings made of metal, shining crystal, and brand new stone.
Reed chuckled a bit. It just looked so out of place; like a rusty, ancient sword being put on display right next to blades made of gold and silver.
He yelped in pain. It seemed that the maiden had not approved of his laughter, given that she had lightly pinched him.
"Sorry, mila— Mom. I just found it a bit amusing, that's all. What sort of history does this place have to warrant such a reputation? It looks rather... homely if I had to describe it." Reed immediately corrected himself when he felt that one of his arms had lost its blood circulation. He enjoyed having two working limbs, above his own shame.
"This place is special because of the unique history it possesses. A long, long time ago this area was just a simple backwater district that commoners lived in. A certain no-good rogue often took a very important princess here for drinks late at night. There was this bet of sorts between the rogue and the restaurant owner's son — that if the rogue ever brought a real princess to the restaurant, he'd give him free drinks for life."
She sounded distant, as if she were someplace else, unbeknownst to Reed.
Reed chortled and said, "These two miscreants you speak of sound dumb as bricks, Mom. I won't lie, though, it's still rather impressive that the rogue pulled it off in the end. He even sounds fairly reminiscent of someone else I've heard about from an old dream of sorts..."
She wanted to say something but held her tongue. Regrets should not be inherited, she thought. Otherwise, she would have...
Her feet started moving again with a renewed sense of purpose, and she dragged Reed over to the old restaurant. With a single snap, she had undone their disguises; she'd made her decision.
A smooth, suave voice beckoned them in as soon as they stepped in through the door. Reed noticed an older man working in the background of the little restaurant inside of a kitchen. His back faced them as he continued his business in the kitchen, not even taking a glance at them as he leisurely moved about here and there.
"Welcome, welcome! The Little House is always open for… I see. A pair of lovers, eh—"
When the man turned around, he violently choked on his words as he gazed at Reed with an astonished expression. He looked like he had stumbled upon a ghost.
"How have you been, Bernard? It's been far, far too long since our last meeting."
The man's face softened up when laid eyes on her and said, "It's been too long, Lady Moonlight. You're a sight for sore eyes, as ever, I might add. And the young lad beside you is...."
She nodded.
The man let out a prolonged whistle as he stirred a pot in the kitchen. "It's been already been that long? Man, time sure flies, huh?" He slowly put down his ladle, washed his hands, and stepped out of the old kitchen.
He approached Reed and took a long look at his face, especially his eyes. It appeared like he was trying to find something within them. Searching for a sign of hope of...
"It's good that ya came back in one piece, lad. You had all us dreadfully worried, 'specially your mum. Still, I'm mighty proud of you for what you did; we all are. One thing's for certain, though, you sure as hell got your Pops's massive balls, hahaha!"
The man tightly hugged Reed of a sudden and then enthusiastically patted him on the back, much to Reed's consternation. He coughed violently when the man had unintentionally knocked the air out of his lungs and struggled for a while until he regained his composure.
"He's not fully recovered Bernard, both in body and mind. Mind yourself around him, or I'll reenact one of my most favorite memories in here, again. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, right?"
Bernard winced in horror exaggeratedly and said, "Mercy, beauty, mercy! Unleash your fury on my body instead and leave my shop in peace! How 'bout I pay you and the lad back with a set of the restaurant's classics, hmm? Your favorite?" Bernard's eyes gleamed ominously and Reed felt a shiver run down his spine.
"That sounds fine," she calmly said. She pulled Reed over to a small, secluded booth for two and said, "Don't worry, he's an excellent cook... when he isn't running his mouth off."
"...I heard that!" said Bernard, his voice muffled in the background.
Reed's silent, burning curiosity finally overtook him and he said, "He spoke about my father as if he knew him... and me, too. I've gotten used to people calling me out already, but that was the first time I've ever heard someone mention my supposed father. How does he know this father of mine?"
"Bernard and your father were the best of friends and loyal accomplices back in their youth. They ran an impressive operation together — a surveillance network — that eventually became the backbone of the Empire's intelligence division. That sleazy looking fellow over there was, at one point, the Royal Spymaster and Chief of Shadows."
Reed's eyes bulged in shock and stared at Mom (title subject to change) in total disbelief.
"..." Bernard kept quiet and whistled a tune in an attempt to play the fool.
"It is unfortunately true. At the height of his prime, he was known as the Lord of Secrets and was reputed to have had an ear in every home, street, alley, and closet in the galaxy. As a result, it was generally considered impossible for anyone to have plotted anything against the Empire or the Emperor without him knowing."
"Oh, that's… sort of unbelievable. And now, he's just a cook? In here? Just like that?"
Bernard quietly popped up with two large trays that were filled to the brim with food and said, "That's not true, lad. I'm not just a cook... I'm also an excellent patissier and confectioner. I was even the Grand Maester of the Culinary Arts once upon a time."
He put the trays down on the table and said, "This is a restaurant classic, modified for a certain princess's palate, mind you. Grilled ragewyrm ribs, accompanied with a select house sauce and grandma's world-famous Efeer nectar to wash down your woes. Please.... enjoy yourselves. Feel free to ask for extra refills, too..." Bernard smiled politely and left like a ghost as quickly as he had arrived.
Reed tilted his head in confusion when he heard Bernard's description of the meal. He dumbly stared at the intimidating mountain of ribs, slathered in sauce and thought that he'd mistakenly heard something wrong. Surely, he had gotten something wrong...
Is this her favorite order? It's just... grilled ribs. Even I could order something like this in the slums from a food stall...
He decided that he'd play the gentleman and not make a comment on it. It would be uncouth of him to project his preconceptions onto her. If the princess liked grilled ribs, then she liked them. It had nothing to do with him...
Turned out the ribs weren't half bad when he wasn't begging for sweet mercy. The word 'hot' couldn't even begin to describe what he had experienced in his mouth. Infernal was a better descriptor. Reed wondered if he'd lose his sense of taste after today as he chugged grandma's supposedly world-famous nectar like a madman.
"Was this sauce made in hell or something?! The ribs taste amazing, but it's too damn hot! I can feel my face melting away," said Reed as he fanned himself in a futile attempt at relief from the horror in his mouth. He wiped the sweat off his brow and chugged another glass of liquid joy. Not a second later, he shoved another rib into his mouth, unaware that he had become his own tormentor.
"We're a family that thrives on the spice, my son. The spice is our reason for existence. Embrace the scorching heat." She looked calmer than grandma's corpse, seemingly unaffected by overwhelming evil contained within the ribs.
"Y-You're not making any sense at all! Bernard!! What did you put in these ribs!!"
Reed still enjoyed the ribs, despite his protests. Even though at one point, he had accidentally gotten a bit of the sauce in his eye. It was the first time he'd wished for death because of food. Bernard even took a picture with a glowing holocrystal in commemoration.
After their meal, Bernard invited Reed for a man-to-man talk about serious manly stuff when Mom (title subject to change) had disappeared off to the ladies' room. He dragged Reed like a sack of potatoes towards the restaurant's backroom as he spoke candidly about all of his former exploits in his youth.
When he opened the old metal door, Bernard said, "Welcome to the Starlight Troupe's HQ, lad! The home of the greatest thieves, spies, conmen, and heartbreakers in the galaxy! This is where legends were born, my boy, the heart of romance!"
When Bernard turned on the lights, the only thing Reed saw was an old, dusty room filled with trinkets and faded pictures. It honestly looked depressing, to the point that Reed said, "This is what, now? A boy's secret club, or something? This is sort of..."
"Amazing, right?! You stand at the doorstep of greatness, my boy, the promised land of all men..... and women, too! We're an equal opportunity employer, mind you..."
"Why did you really bring me here? It's safe to say it wasn't so you could show me this, right?" said Reed as he slowly walked around the neglected room. The pictures on the wall had faded so much that he could no longer make out anything from them. A thick layer of dust had formed on the main table of the room and everything else in the room.
"....You're really hurting my feelings there, lad," said Bernard as he faked an unconvincing sob. He abruptly stopped once he noticed that Reed hadn't fallen for the bait.
"..."
"A-Alright, alright! Don't get your panties up in a bunch, lad, it was just a joke..." Bernard shuffled over to a broken shelf of books and fiddled with them until he found what he wanted. He pulled out an old book and handed it to Reed with a small smile on his face.
"It's for you... from ya pops, lad. Well, it belongs to you now by rights of succession. You're finally old enough to inherit it. Go on, open it."
Reed's heart thumped wildly. He opened the book, filled with a million expectations as he opened the book. As soon as he saw what was inside, he said, "Wait.... that's it? Only this?"
It was a small silver key made of dull crystal. It looked cheap as hell like it might break if you held it too strongly. Reed snorted and chuckled in disappointment.
"Now, now, lad. Don't be like that. That right there is what all the folks in my business wish for — a literal call to adventure! I'll even tell ya what the key opens, lad!" said Bernard as he approached Reed.
Bernard looked around cautiously for a couple of seconds and then, after a long pause, said, "It's your Pops's key, lad. It opens the hidden door to his secret hideout that he had back in the day when he was in the business, so to speak. Not even your mum knew about this, catch my drift? It was a secret between brothers, ya see...." His voice was so soft that even the flickering crystal lamp that lit the room was louder than him.
There was a firm solemnity in Bernard's tone that scared the living hell out of Reed. It felt as if a horrifying monster had been awoken from its slumber. He froze dead in place and did not dare move.
"It's located outside of the city, in the ruins of an old-world city, from before the collapse, Talfano City. It's where ya pops and I were born in — you as well, lad. I've already uploaded the coordinates on your little servitorum there, your flying book. Go there as soon as you can and...."
A rattling noise resounded in the empty room and the duo hurriedly acted on instinct as if their lives depended on it. Reed violently shoved the small silver key into one of his pockets and Bernard moved like lighting towards the other end of the room.
When the old door opened, Bernard smiled and said, "Welcome back, my fair lady, I was just regaling the lad with some of our stories, hahaha... Also..." He rummaged around an old cabinet for a bit and pulled out a black cloak of considerable quality. It had the symbol of a golden sun that shimmered under the light.
"I thought it best that the lad take the cloak for his own protection since he's here now. It more or less belongs to him anyway, right?"
"....." It looked like she wanted to say something, but held back in the end.
Bernard quickly thrust the cloak onto Reed and said, "The cloak's an old keepsake of your pops, lad. There's a very special enchantment weaved into the cloak, granting the wearer... a host of unique abilities... It's also stylish too, heh..."
Reed gazed at the cloak in his hands; it felt warm to the touch although it had been stored away for an age or two. It felt... pleasant to hold and was softer than a cloud. He put it on and found that it matched him perfectly like a glove.
"It's perfect. I'm also a big fan that's self-warming, too. It gets cold where I live, so this'll be a complete lifesaver for me."
Bernard and Acuecucyoticihuati glanced at each other for an instant and then smiled. They complimented Reed's appearance as they both thought the same thing simultaneously:
It's not supposed to be self-warming at all because... that isn't one of its abilities.
They gazed at Reed and wondered what it meant. They concluded that only the original owner would know what this change meant... After all, he was the one who created it.