"Akio's got a nice garden." I said, looking out the window.
Akio was nice enough to allow Alice and I to stay at his manor for as long as we needed. Ichiro had left not too long ago to cash in our quest reward leaving us with nothing to do. For the first time in a while we had some free time.
"Now what should I do today?" I asked myself. I walked through the hallways and down the stairs to see what rooms I could find. On my little exploration I found a library which was where Akio was at.
Akio hadn't noticed me enter and was reading a large book. After moving closer to him, he finally noticed me and gave me a smile. He put a bookmark inside the book he was reading and placed it back on the shelf.
"You're up rather early. Ichiro is still off collecting our reward so you can go back to sleep if you want." Akio suggested.
"I appreciate the offer but I'm fine. So what were you reading?" I asked.
Akio gave me a surprised stare as if this was the first time someone asked him this question. He picked up the book from earlier and handed it to me.
The title of the book read, "The History of the World Tree." I examined its cover for a moment before flipping it open. The book was filled to the brim with stories from travelers.
"Each story is actually a journal from a past adventurer. I'm fascinated with the tree's past and wish to learn more about it." Akio said with an excited look on his face.
"That sounds interesting. Anyway, I'm going to continue looking around the manor. Thanks for showing me this." I said, handing back Akio's book.
Not long after that I had managed to find the kitchen. Inside the kitchen was a group of five men who all gave off the impression that they were really annoyed.
"Who is this girl?" One of the men asked.
"Hell if I know." Another one of the men said.
When I got close enough I could see that the girl they were talking about happened to be Alice. On closer inspection I could see that she was… cooking?
"Wait, Alice can cook?" I originally planned to say that in my head but I blurted it aloud.
Everyone in the room turned towards me. Each of the men gave me a sympathetic look as they moved out of Alice's way. Her eyes felt like daggers as she stared at me.
"You saw nothing." She said coldly.
I saw nothing.