"Erin. Fourth table is clear of customers. Can you go give it a wipe down for me?" His senior staffer Tist asked.
Tist was a young man a few years older than himself. He was noticeably taller, and his hair was as dark as his own.
"Sure thing. I've got ya covered," Ryuma said. He wiped what little food stains there were on the table. Thank the spirits it wasn't as messy as the rowdy bunch before them. He was dressed like a waiter with his hair tied up. He'd been working here for about a week by now. Like Saya told him to do, he spent a good portion of his job people watching.
Their manners, their habits. Their conversations and how they interacted with the world. He was starting to get a better sense of it.
Course he was no cocky fool. There's no way he was going to get everything within a week down perfectly, but he got enough to suffice.
Plus, working the job he worked, some patrons would sit and have a chat with him regardless of his wishes. He obliged them anyway. He found speaking directly to them always netted him with information going on in the world.
Though with his paranoia at its extreme, he always made a point to jot everyone in the building down before he engaged in lengthy conversations. With him being hunted, how could he not think somebody was always close.
Like even now. While he greeted a customer, he couldn't help but notice two people in the corner of the diner looking so out of place.
The men neither engaged in conversation nor did they order anything heavy. They just continued to sip their drinks in relative silence.
Ryuma narrowed his eyes at them. That was suspicious in his view. One of them even looked familiar. Thinking back, it was that ronin with the scar on his face. That guy he was with was no longer with him but was replaced by a boy whose age matched his own.
"Erin, you ok?" Tist asked.
Ryuma turned to him and smiled. "I'm fine Tist. Just thinking on some things,"
"Oh good. Looks like business is slowing down. Why don't you go on and take a break?" Tist offered.
"Sure thing," Ryuma sat down. He went into deep thought. Not that he needed the money, but he was starting to get a sense of how the currency worked down here. Five copper teals an hour. How could one even survive off that? And that was without the taxes. It was a constant reminder that his ultimate goal was to liberate Hestia from the clutches of the Skylands. Though if you asked him, it looked like more than just Hestia was going to need a little liberation. Though it wasn't on the same level that Geneo had Hestia in, the members of The Order still spoke and treated the surface dwellers like they were beneath them. Metaphorically speaking at least.
It was then that two men dressed in priest garbs came barging right on in. {Speak of the devil}. He didn't expect to be faced to face with more priest. He took a quick glance, being careful not to stare, less he draws their attention. They were dressed in the colors of red and bronze. They were Red Dogs. He inwardly cursed his luck. He's seen nothing but White Dragons so much, he forgot that the dogs were situated here as well.
"Hey waiter, give us the finest piss you have in this dump heap," One of them said.
Ryuma looked at them with the corner of his eye. These two were infamous around here. Tist could only nervously laugh. "Ya know I can't do that," Tist said.
"You can't… and why not?" The other one asked.
The tension in the diner had gotten thick. The air silent. It was a veiled threat. "I… I'm sure you didn't pay for the last round you guys had here," Tist said. His voice cracked. The men just gave him a loathsome glare.
All attention in the diner was on them. This was to be expected. Tist was directly challenging their standing despite just asking for what they owed.
"You're right. We didn't. I thought I told you we'd pay you back with that. Does this establishment not trust their customers. Especially since we came all this way from our lands to help your sorry guardians, this is the thanks we get?" The priest said.
"Please don't misunderstand. I can't live off promises. Please don't make things difficult my dear priest," Tist pleaded.
He was grabbed by the collar from over the counter. "Listen boy. We gave our word that we'd pay you back. Just give us our damn drink boy, and maybe, we'll pay you back for this one as well," The other priest demanded.
Tist held his hand up defensively. "Sir, there's no need for that. One Liquid Amber coming right up,"
The priest let him go. Tist turned around and grabbed a bottle from the highest shelf. Ryuma knew that it was a dummy bottle. It was filled with the cheapest shit on the alcoholic menu. A tactic he was well aware that would reduce the loss of doing business with them. Ryuma was learning that the people here adapted well to their overbearing arrogance.
Ryuma's hand twitched. Even though he wasn't facing them, he was no longer using his peripheral's and was now just glaring at them.
"Tchh… Can't wait till we find that Ryuma brat. Seems like ever since their Shining Spirit appeared, the residence has gotten arrogant," One of the priests huffed in disdain.
"Do not take it to heart brother. Rumor has it, that the Shining Spirit for the Red Dogs has also appeared," The other priest smirked with arrogance. "Even if we don't manage to find him, our Red Dog will Trounce that stupid reptile,"
The first one took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm letting them work me up over nothing. Just one other thing though…"
He knocked Ryuma off his chair and into the ground. An audible gasp was heard from the distance from a female patron.
"This one's been glaring at me for a while now,"
Ryuma's eyes were hidden behind the veil of darkness. His eyes narrowed with the evil intent of murder. He didn't know what had been happening to him lately, but jumping straight to wanting to kill a man has slowly starting to seep into his main frame of thought. It was even more silent.
"Most apologies sir. It's his first week on the job. He doesn't yet know how things work around here. Right Erin?"
Ryuma could see he was trying to offer him a way out, but his killer intent was difficult to control. He stood up, dusted himself off, and gave the assailant the most radiant, heart-felt smile he could give anybody.
"Most apologies. I didn't mean to offend you good sir. I was told my face can be a bit scary and that I should stop staring at people. No need to take it to heart," Ryuma said.
The man sighed. "I didn't think so," He looked away, and in that small window, he didn't see how evil Ryuma's eyes became.
"I swear we should go back west. We were never treated with this level of hospitality," The second priest said.
Ryuma had a level of doubt with that obvious lie.
"Anyways. You said something about the church of Arslan earlier," The first priest said, turning back to his partner.
"Oh that? Apparently, in both Igniant, and Sloth, there's been a rise in the practice of Holism to the point that they're openly holding sermons,"
"The church of Arslan has reached that far? Figures… you wouldn't see such a devil practicing religion in the Loil region.
Ryuma sat back down in the chair he got knocked from. He went back to minding his own business. At least on the surface he did. His thoughts immediately went to the Church of Arslan. What was that about? He's heard of it before and didn't think much of it. The Skylands allowed the practice of all religion. This one religion, however, was the exception to that rule. The church of Arslan was prohibited.
Anybody caught practicing was to be sent to the central island. What was so important about this faith that struck fear into the Skylands? The only thing he knew about them was that weird design of those two contraptions in an 'X' pattern.
Not to mention, he learned something that he had no prior knowledge of beforehand. This man said that the awakening of the Red Dog had occurred. Does that mean that the Red Dogs got their Shining Spirit by now? This was huge. Who could it be?
He felt like his position was even more awkward now. All four Shining Spirits were up, but his was the outsider in comparison to the rest of the group.
He stood up from his chair. "Thanks for the intermission. I think I'm good to go again," Ryuma said.
"Ok, thanks Erin. I appreciate the help,"