Thankfully the inn had a restaurant attached and Kotori who hadn't eaten that day yet was happy to have a meal. Amelie likewise looked quite hungry. It was already about midafternoon and they hadn't eaten since breakfast, so it made sense that she was so hungry.
"What do you want to order?" Kotori asked her.
Out of the 5 people there, only two of them could eat Shu, Umi, and Layla were spirits and thus didn't need to eat
"Hmm," Amelie said.
The food in the inn was quite different than what they were used to eating. There was a large assortment of seafood-based dishes that Kotori had never heard of.
She decided to order off the menu at random.
A young server girl took their order and Kotori and her party chatted until the food arrived
"Hey, do you think this Fawks guy is going to be a good guy?" Amelie asked
It seemed like the interaction with the sailor Doran gave her the impression that Fawks was going to be a sleazy sort of guy as well.
"Doran seemed like a nice enough guy I think Fawks is going to be alright." Kotori said
"I guess, hopefully, we can finish with enough time to explore a bit" Amelie said
The food soon arrived. There were several dishes.
One of them was seafood stew very similar to bouillabaisse. The broth was rich and hearty with a strong tomatoey flavor. There was an assortment of shellfish and tender whitefish in the stew itself.
Another seemed to be a sort of carpaccio sort of dish. The acrid flavor of the dressing greatly cut down on the overbearing fattiness of the fish which made it a refreshing dish overall.
Lastly, was a roast fish dish. Well, it was a little more complicated than that. The piece of the fish that was being roasted was the bloodline which was typically tossed out. The chef had roasted the bloodline as if it was a piece of roast beef and the meat was actually quite well prepared in this way.
All the food was meant to be paired with bread at the table. Unlike bread made from the magic wheat that Kotori had. The bread was a whole grain rustic type. It paired quite well with the dishes but the server girl also brought a small bottle of oil which was mean to serve as something to top the bread.
This restaurant was not fancy enough to be able to give butter and thus gave a simple seasoned e oil to top the bread with.
Kotori could eat quite a bit. Her stomach capacity was larger than the average human's, so she waited until Amelie ate her fill then she scarfed down the rest of the food.
Once they finished their meal they waited in the inn restaurant for Fawks to come back.
It soon became evening and people began to trickle into the inn. A large portion went straight to the restaurant and started to have their dinners. The room quickly became quite boisterous.
Soon a man came to Kotori and her party's table.
He was a handsome sort of guy with thick-styled gelled hair. He radiated a very suave atmosphere. He wore several gold piercings on his nose and ears.
The man radiated an air of suaveness.
He looked quite similar to Doran actually.
[Siblings?] Kotori thought
"Hello," he said. He was looking at Kotori's tiara and raising an eyebrow.
"I was told you were looking for me?" He said
He seemed to be in a good mood after seeing the table was filled with beauties.
Kotori decided she might as well use this goodwill.
She gave a charming smile much like the one that Doran gave her earlier.
"We are trying to sell some wheat, Doran told us you could help us"
"I see…" The man said. Could you follow me for a bit, a place like this is not suitable for a business talk like this.
He quickly led them out of the restaurant towards the reception area of the inn.
"Prepare us a room," He told the receptionist.
The receptionist nodded and led them to a room. It seems that since the merchant's quarters were filled with merchants every inn had several conference rooms that were for anybody to use.
They were quickly led to a room with a large table and several chairs around. The room had a door that could be locked, and the door was thick enough to no transmit any noise as long as the participants weren't shouting.
Kotori seated herself and Fawks likewise pulled a chair out and sat in it.
He leaned back and put his boots on the table. Since he was a merchant his boots were quite high quality and had a nice sheen on them.
Despite this, Kotori only had one thought.
[Bad manners…]
She was a person who was taught that putting your feet on the table in a business negotiation was taboo.
"Mind introducing yourself?" Fawks said
"Don't want to" Kotori said. Revealing their identities could be an issue if Fawks knew about the bounty.
"it's a little difficult to buy something from someone I don't even know the name of." He said smirking
Fawks was right to be suspicious of them. He was a merchant, after all, he had to be careful of scams.
"Doran sent us" Kotori said laying down her trump card.
"Him? I see, then we'll hold off the identity portions for now." Fawks said raising his eyebrow
Kotori was surprised to see that Fawks dropped the issue of their identity so quickly.
"Now what did my dear half-brother send you for?"
[So I was half right] Kotori thought. The resemblance was not a coincidence and they were indeed related in some way.
"We want to sell some wheat that is all" Kotori said
"Can I see it?" Fawkes said
"We don't have the product on hand, but we have some samples," Kotori said.
To be continued next chapter