Sitting in the filled-to-the-brink café the fragrant smell of coffee didn't help much with me trying to keep my urges under control when seeing all the people around us. Despite this, I was desperately trying to convince myself that this was good practice, that this would help me get over my current condition faster.
This day had been, so far, quite good, with nothing weird happening except for Lydia giving me some weird looks during the monster elimination lesson. Even though my body was in a lot of pain after the self-study session with Dona, it had still been a good day. Until now.
Unknown as to how or why, Astor had somehow convinced me to follow him after class to a café, telling me that I would regret it if I didn't. Looking at the yellow-haired man, I believed I could see a bit of weakness in him, very different from his usually confident self.
While he was preparing myself to tell me whatever he had on his mind, I took a sip of the coffee that he had gotten me while looking around the very modern facility. Very much contrasting the small and cozy café that Celina had brought me to, this one was the opposite.
Then again, it was part of the Starpucks chain, so it naturally followed the same green and brown color scheme. But I didn't particularly like it. Mostly because of the fact that everything felt so incredibly soulless.
Then, just as I was thinking about just what a white chocolate mochaccino with ginger was, Astor finally opened his mouth.
"Astor, my father wanted me to invite you to an event tomorrow. And before you say no, please listen until the end. Because if you don't, I'm afraid things will get a bit difficult for you in the future."
Having already noticed that I was half-way off my seat as soon as he mentioned some sort of event, he had also been quick to convince me to at least listen to what he had to say.
"...fine. Tell me."
Once again, I took ahold of the only thing I enjoyed about this situation, letting another sip of the warm brew into my mouth. In response to seeing me staying seated, Astor looked noticeably relieved as he continued his explanation.
"The event in and of itself isn't all too important. It's pretty much one of many banquets that are thrown to encourage the larger guilds and politicians to make connections and get along with each other."
"If that's the case, then why does it matter if I go or not? And why does your father even want me to be there?"
Putting up two fingers into the air, he slowly started clearing up my confusion about the matter.
"First of all, if you don't come despite receiving an invitation, it will be seen as you revolting against the upper echelon of Teton. Meaning, you will have a bad time in the future when trying to interact with anyone."
Crossing my arms, I wasn't very pleased with what he was telling me. Because what he was saying was more or less that if I didn't play according to the bigshots tune, they would make it impossible for me in the future to make connections.
Needless to say, it would be quite the headache. Enough of an headache to make me inclined to believe that I, as Astor was trying to tell me, didn't have much of a choice.
"So? Why does your father want me to come? It's not like I am part of the aristocrats or have some defining feature that would make me interesting to him."
"That... I'm sorry, but I don't even know myself. My only guess is that after he saw me hanging out with you, he became interested."
'How fucking obnoxious...'
The fact that someone could put someone in a situation like this purely because they were a bit curious was more than wile. It was downright disgusting.
"Haaa... So? Where and how is this event going to go down?"
"I understand that you aren't... what?"
Unable to comprehend that I had already accepted my fate, I had to repeat myself to the baffled man once again.
"I said, how do I get to the event, and is there anything I need to know before attending?"
"Aarick..."
"Stop! Don't look at me like that, it's disgusting!"
Waving away his starry eyes that looked at me as if I was some kind of tragic hero that had prepared himself to meet his fate, I spent the next half hour listening to him telling me everything that I needed to know before tomorrow.
==========
"Haa... How are you always getting into trouble like this?"
"I'm sorry..."
Having come home, I felt like I needed to tell Dona about the event that I had gotten invited to. Partly because it felt like a responsible thing to do, and partly because I secretly hoped that she would have some kind of way for me to get out of it.
Now sitting in the couch like some sort of king staring down her pathetic subject standing in front of her, I almost felt like I could see her frustration take the shape of a purple devil behind her.
Still dressed in her working clothes, which was a pair of black slacks and a blue top, she looked a lot more menacing than when she was wearing her usual loungewear. And, on top of this, she still didn't seem to be able to save me.
"You will have to go. However, I will go with you."
"Huh?"
"I said, I will go with you. There's no way that I will allow you to go there by yourself when you aren't fully attuned to your new body. Now, let's get going."
"Where are we going?"
Standing up, it didn't feel as if she was the same height as me anymore. No, it felt like a giant who towered over me, with flames of anger in her eyes.
"We are going to get you a new suit. Because someone happened to trash the old one."
"Ah... right..."
To be fair, that was totally on me. I still wanted to call it an honest mistake, but at the same time, I didn't think she would appreciate me trying to gloss over it.
Walking to the small entrance hall, she wasn't about to waste even a second before getting all the preparation for tomorrow done. But at the same time, she said something that made my stomach warm up a bit.
"Also, you still haven't picked your ranking gift. So we might as well get you one now."
Looking at the back of the one that was currently my only comfort in this world, it was hard to keep my eyes from becoming moist in gratitude. Or, so it should have been, if not for the voice coming from a man who didn't seem to care at all about our emotional moment.
"Hey, if you guys are going out, would you mind getting some food on your way back? There's nothing in the fridge but blood, you know?"
==========
This time, it hadn't taken long until we had picked up a suit for me to wear tomorrow, which had left us with a lot of time for the second and, for me at least, the more important thing we were planning on doing.
And now, we had arrived in front of a huge store, surprisingly still open even though the sun had already left the sky quite some time ago. Above the entrance, the name of it was spelled out in big letters.
'Hunter's Paradise...'
"Come on, let's go in."
"Mm."
Following Dona, I entered the store and was quickly astonished by the interior.
There were items all over the store, both in cabinets spread around the floor, on shelves and on the walls. From just a glance, it was obvious that every single one of these items were artifacts, making me sweat a bit when thinking about the worth of the products in the store.
Up ahead, there was a checkout with a young, blonde girl leaning onto it, obviously waiting for someone to enter. As soon as she saw us, she suddenly sprang up like a rabbit, hurrying to greet us as quickly as possible.
"Hello and welcome to the Hunter's Paradise! What can I do for you today?"
Taking the lead, Dona walked up to her and presented our errand while pointing to me.
"Hi. We are here to look for a [E]-rank artifact suitable for this young man. Is it possible for us to get a list of available wares?"
A wide smile appeared on the girl's face as she continued to act overly enthusiastically toward us.
"Absolutely! Just wait for a bit, I'll be back in a second! Please do look around for a bit while I'm getting the list!"
A bit confused as to why she couldn't just use the computer on the checkout to show us the list, I decided to take her advice and take a look around.