"We're staying in this cheap inn near the guild, we can't afford anything expensive after all," Erika explained.
After we arrived back in town, Erika and the others decided to tag along with me. As always, after completing my quest, I'm planning on going back to the guild to get my rewards. They're going there too for the same purpose, so I didn't have any reason to shoo them away. I find it enjoyable too to talk with fellow adventurers, so I didn't mind them at all.
"You're not familiar with the town yet?"
"Umu, it hasn't been a month since I got here, so I'm not familiar with the places yet..."
The only paths in this town I memorized in my head so far were the ones going to the guild, the inn I'm staying at, and the market area. There are only a few establishments I know as well, like that expensive restaurant and the smithing shop.
"We've actually been seeing you in the guild for the past weeks, but we're too shy to approach, since you were so intimidating..." Kai replied.
Intimidating? I never thought people would look at me that way...
I got anxious in the way I present myself, but thankfully, Erika corrected Kai and fixed my misunderstanding.
"Not intimidating in a bad way, of course! You're simply too daunting! You have this strange aura on you that only pretty people have," she explained.
"That's right... like a princess..." Harry nodded along with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"Is that so?"
It's true that younger people are usually shy around me. Adults are more confident, and they're not shy at all to approach me. However, I don't know what this aura around me they were talking about.
"But it turns out, you're actually easy to get along with!" Erika grabbed my arm and enthusiactically said.
I don't mind her clinging to me like that, but she's making it difficult for me to walk...
"We're here," Harry informed us when we were distracted.
Right when we entered the guild, we immediately went for the receptionists to get the completion of our quests.
Kai and the others got their rewards far earlier than me. After receiving their pouch of coins from the lady receptionist, they fought against each other to decide who will get to hold and take care of it. It's typical for a group of adventurers to do that, especially when they have a close relationship with each other.
While they were doing that, I remained patiently waiting to receive my own reward. More paticularly, I'm waiting for the receptionist to finish her job. She looked nervous as she counted all the shiny gold coins, probably because it's an amount she rarely get to see.
When she finished counting, she immediately store them inside a small sack and passes it to me. After that, she breathed a heavy sigh and congratulated me.
"We did not expect you would handle it so fast, so we weren't able to prepare the rewards beforehand... we'll make sure to do better next time!"
"It's not a big deal," I smiled to the nervous receptionist.
"Oh! Please expect a bonus for the Basilisk's corpse. Since it's in prestine condition, we might issue another payment."
"Thank you, I look forward to it."
With that over, I went to see the trio adventurers once again; it appears they were waiting for me, and they were all expectantly staring at me.
"Wow! Are those all gold coins?" Erika asked, almost shouting as she did.
"Amazing... so this is what an adventurer of your caliber get as reward..." Kai mumbled with a bewildered look on his face.
"Fufu..." I simply chuckled at their comments and stored the sack away.
"So, where are you planning to go after this, Eria?"
"Well..."
"Eria!"
I was about to make up something for a reply, but Erika interrupted me.
"You see, I thought maybe we could hang out a bit!" she excitedly said.
Hm? Is that why the three of them were waiting so eagerly for me? Looking at the three of them, I figured out that this idea might've come only from Erika, since Kai and Harry both look surprised about it.
"Tomorrow! We can go out in a group date!"
"What...!?"
"Huh!?"
Although I'm surprised about it as well, the high-pitched noises did not come from me, but from Kai and Harry. The two of them look uncomfortable, and they were blushing to their ears. They particularly reacted to the word "date".
"What are you talking about, Erika? We just got acquainted with Eria today, you can't possibly ask her for something like that."
"Tha-that's right!"
The two of them objected. It didn't seem they were rejecting the idea, they were just being shy or considerate.
"Come on! This is the first time we made friends with an elf, so we might as well take this opportunity to get even closer!"
She knows I can hear her, right?
"But..." Kai mumbled as he stared right at me, only to look away when our eyes met. As expected, his face was crimson red.
Ahh... That was actually kind of cute. I thought he was the passive and oblivious type at first, but it turns out he was conscious of me after all. Looking at Harry, it appears he was the same too.
"I'm sorry, but I'll be busy after this... and tomorrow as well, so I can't," I apologized to Erika.
Kai and Harry both looked relieved at first, but their eyes soon expressed their dissapointments.
"Then! The day after tomorrow, you'll be available, correct?"
"I... I supposed..." I reluctantly replied.
Shoot! I got caught off guard that I unintentionally blurted out an answer...
I was a bit shocked when Erika came close to me and hold both of my hands above my chest, that I found myself instinctively squeezing out an answer.
"Really?"
"Uh... yes..."
Well, at least she was not asking for a bad thing... I think I'll accept her invitation anyway, since I don't have anything else to do by then. It might be a good opportunity to make some friends in this city too.
"Then it's settled!" she excitedly declared.