…
Marco and his friends continue serving as part time workers in Cavil's Corner. Marco gained a lot of compliments from Cavil, albeit being complained most of the time the day prior. The fact that Marco could cook nicely surprised everyone else, the taste of his dishes also surprisingly good.
Most of the time, Marco didn't really show that he can cook. He rather buys food instead of cooking because he thought it was troublesome to make one. And when he cooks, he would only be seen boiling eggs and plain water.
"Marco… since when were you so g-good in cooking?" Scias asked. "Oh, this? My late mom was a master chef. She taught me a lot about this. Well… although not much, hehe," said Marco frankly.
"Not much, huh…" Scias scrunched up while looking at the delightful food he's making.
Nina and Aily have made quite the notoriety around despite have worked only two days. Chains of rumors of Cavil employed super cute and attractive women in his hut caused many people to come over his place. Even the former employees that dumped Cavil for his arrogance come by to see the new workers. Cavil bragged how that he was extremely lucky to have them work at his place.
Even being popular, Aily despised those who stared at her sister lustfully.
…
Afternoon, day three of working, Marco and his friends take a quick break after a hectic serve of people.
"Hah~ what a tiring day, is it not?" he asked. "Yeah… it's just keep on coming like an endless line." Aily replied in a tired voice. "But that's what you call work," said Nina.
The hectic activities added with the heat of sun makes their job harder. But they did it quite well. Nina put a lot of flower pots in the hut at permission, since she likes flower a lot. But Aily doesn't share the same love for flower, though.
Scias on the other hand… strangely still doesn't show a sign of sweating, even beneath the harsh temperature of the small desert. He looked tired, but he did not sweat a single drop. In some point, Marco accidentally nudged him, and he was shocked that his elbow was cold. He was then, "Oh, he's bringing a lot of ice on his hands," and believed that the melting ice was flowing down to his elbows.
…
After break time, their work was decreased because the former employees returned back to work at Cavil's Corner, meaning that their job will be shared across them. It's a surprise for Cavil himself as he believed that their ill-attitude will make them work somewhere else, although Cavil himself wasn't aware of his obnoxious mouth.
As they continued, Marco cooked a plate of sausages. Since the line is rather endless and the waiters are busy with them, he must bring the dish to the customer himself.
It reveals that the customer was Sean himself, shocking Marco and nearly dropped the plate.
"Whoa, dude! What are you doing here?" he asked delightfully.
"That's my question, you know?" he replied in a resigned voice. Marco puts the food on the wooden table and sits next to him.
"So, you decided to change jobs, huh? What a surprising turns of events," said Sean sarcastically. He then takes a sip of his coffee.
"Hahaha, of course not, man. We're gathering as many cash as we can for our further journey to the north."
"Going to the north, huh…? I don't think it's the best place to go," he replied, still in a hefty voice. He proceeds to eat one sausage that was getting cold. "Thwat phlace… gulp!" said Sean munching his food. "Geez, don't talk while eating will ya?" Marco nagged.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sean replied in a more resigned voice. Marco finally notices this and asks, "Hey Sean, what's going on out of the blue?"
Sean glared at him for briefly, then decided to spill the beans. "My work isn't too well here…"
Meanwhile across the hut on table no.15, Nina is serving a surprising guy. "My, my… aren't you…" she said while guessing the customer's name which she happens to know.
"…Mr. Queaz?"
The blue-skinned man with a mask and gray fedora looked at her. "Hm? Oh… what a surprise, you're uh… Nani, right? No, wait… Ah, yes, you are Nina," said Queaz recognizing her face. Even though he said he was surprised, his calm backlash did not show that same emotion.
Nina put the glass of tea from her tray onto his table. "Huh… thanks." He said calmly. "You're welcome,"
Seeing his rather-not-to-care demeanor, she tries to do some icebreaker, "Um… if I may know, how are you going to drink the tea, Mr. Queaz?"
"Hm… hm? Oh, no worries, it's very simple." Queaz picked the glass of tea, and suddenly the tea dries off the glass in a blink of an eye.
"Eh? Huh? What? What happened?" she said in confused manner. "Where did the tea go?" she wondered.
"I've drank it. Thanks for the drink, by the way," he said carelessly. "Y-Yeah… y-you're welcome."
The latter became awkward. Nina tries again, "Um… what are you doing here, Mr. Queaz?"
"Hoh… just strolling around, I suppose…" he replied in a voice of boredom.
"W-Well, one does not simply strolling around in distant places, you know?" Nina replied.
Queaz glared at her, "But you folks were adventuring around lately. Ain't that alone, is in fact, strolling around as well?"
"W-Well… you have a point, there, eheheheh…"
Queaz paused for a moment and stared into the cloudy afternoon skies, "Trotting around many cities… it's very boring." He then looked right down to the table in front of him, "…And there's nothing much entertaining for me."
"Huh?" Nina wondered in confusion, "Are you sure there's nothing entertaining?"
"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just talking to myself. You better go back to your work, Nina."
"No worries, after this, I'm done working."
"Who the hell 'worries' about you—Ah, never mind," Queaz cuts his own words strangely. Nina then takes a sit across the table.
"If you're so bored, why don't you go to a library and read some books?" she asked kindly.
"Books, huh? Those wad of papers full of texts packed into one… what's so interesting about that?" Queaz retorted coldly. "Especially those books filled with so many odd numbers and symbols that I don't even understand."
"Do you mean math book?" she asked with a scrunched face. "I guess that's what you folks call it. Some folks said that those kinds of books are the key to success… was it though?"
"Ahahahah…" she giggled awkwardly. "I'm not sure what to say." Nina said. "But um… I guess you MIGHT like storybooks."
"Storybooks?"
"Yeah, storybooks, like a novel, for example,"
"…Novel? What's a novel?"
"It's a book filled with interesting fictional stories!"
"…Is that so? I guess I'll pass. I'm not so interested in going to a library, anyway, heh,"
"Ahahah… I… I see…"
Shortly thereafter, Aily who was just done serving three customers realized her having a 'good' conversation with a strange guy.
"AHH! Sister's snared a man!" she rushed to her and whammed the table, shocking Nina and slightly surprises Queaz. "Who do you think you are to talk to my sister like that?" Aily said harshly, she then looked at Queaz,
"...Eh?" she realized the hatted man and apologized quickly.
"I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Mr. Queaz. I don't mean to be rude… um…" she glares at him, seeing him watching her bowing down with little to no care at all.
"I don't really matter it. You're just a kid," he replied coldly. "Ngg?! I'm not a kid anymore, just as so you know!" she quickly retorted. "—I don't know." Queaz reacted quickly. Aily's face reddens, outraged by his careless attitude.
Nina quickly comes into action, "Now, now… don't be so grumpy, Aily."
"But sister, he's the one started it!" Aily nagged. "Aily~" Nina smiled… but not sincerely. Aily quickly shoves her anger away before her sister gave her another seven minute lecture. But the latter becomes a sisterly debate, somehow.
Queaz, seeing the endless chatter of these sisters, decided to leave. "Alright, Imma head out now, here's the money." He slammed the payment on the table and leaves the hut without another word.
"Ah, thanks for coming, Mr. Queaz!" said Nina. Queaz simply raised his arms and waved it slightly without saying a single word.
…
Meanwhile, across the hut, Marco and Sean were having a rather serious conversation.
Sean told Marco that he was doing a 'Search and Destroy' mission, in which means hunting down a target. The target in question was a man that probably the one responsible for creating an orb that summons monsters from beneath the soils of Napre Kingdom. He also said that he successfully planted a holy magic on the suspect just before he escaped. It rang a bunch of times, revealing the location of the suspect and it appears to be in Alidia lately. With that in mind, he decides to go on a lone mission to pursue and silence him forever.
"Hey, hey, hey, seriously, now? A vanguard knight like you would like to hunt a guy down?" Marco asked in a kidding tone.
"He's not any normal guy you might find every day. He's a freaking demon," Sean replied seriously.
"Ouoh, was it a demon like that Entomancer by any chance?" Marco said in a curious tone. "I guess so. He can escape our blade quite easily…" Sean replied in a lowering voice.
"This tickles my thought for a while, Sean." Marco stated.
"What is?"
"How does he look like?"
"Oh… oh, yeah, I haven't told you that. Let's see… he's a guy with an inhuman skin, I guess? He wears a multi-purpose black suit and a gray cape. But his trademark is that he has this odd metal mask covering his face from nose down to chin. He also wears a hat."
"…huhuhuh, r-really?" said Marco stutteringly. Sean turned his eyes on Marco, he got curious why the explorer was sweating roughly.
"What's wrong, Marco?" he asked. "Ahahahah, nothing, really. Pheeeew, this place reeks of desert and it's very hot." Marco waves his hand, trying to cool himself.
Sean pauses for a moment. He then closes his eyes, "You're right. In Sacranopolis, we could hardly find a place alike from that 'deadly desert'. Besides, this kingdom, was in fact, located in the world of Tellus. Hmph… I really miss our original world…"
"Yeah..." Marco replied awkwardly. But in terms of understanding that, he also felt alike. Marco, Scias, and Sean, all of them were from the world of Gaia. They do miss their separate world. But hey, it's a new world order, where world of Gaia and Tellus combined into one, so every living being from both worlds must reform massively.
A few minutes later… a petite girl with a massive but tattered cape comes to them. Sean realizes her first and asks:
"What do you want little girl?"