*Adam*
After a short while of waiting, I heard the door swing open a servant for the Adam family dressed in a black and white suit entered with food wrapped in saran wrap.
He handed it over to me and I whistled to grab Ajax's attention and handed one to him.
He looked at it for a bit before he said in confusion.
"This is-"
"Yep, the same sandwich you gave me after I woke up from death."
It felt like a long time ago, but the experience was still pretty fresh in my mind.
"Ever since I got back, I've had a craving for these but none of them tasted as good as the ones I had back then."
I said as I removed the wrap and bit into it, it was good but not as good as the ones he had given me.
He unwrapped his as well as he said in a low voice.
"It really wasn't that great."
"Maybe, it could just be because I was pretty hungry but hey, that doesn't change the fact that it tasted good."
He looked over at me questioningly before turning back to look at the stage as he ate, even though nothing was going on.
However, for a moment his ever-stoic face broke into a slight smile as he ate.
I was a bit surprised but didn't bring it up, I didn't want him to try and cover it up the next time, so he would do it naturally.
It was that easy huh? Really, no one tried just complimenting him on something he was proud of before?
'That's kind of sad.'
I thought as I ate.
Suddenly Ajax looked up as if he had realized something and asked.
"Um... Is the rest of the Kane family going to be here?"
It was a pretty weird question, but I got what he meant.
It was pretty natural to assume that they would be here but my family was a bit different.
"Well... Emma has to sit along with the rest of the first years."
I hesitated as I recalled my father's reasoning.
"Well, my father doesn't really like all this fancy stuff, he just sits with the rest of the crowd, says the atmospheres better that way and my mother joins him."
My father was a bit weird that way.
"The only reason we have any of what we have is because we're supposed to be a noble family."
Ajax nodded slightly in understanding.
"As we are pretty meritocratic and don't have division based on status, people tend to forget that there are still a few rules we have to follow."
One of these rules was to show the power of our family by wealthy purchases, manors, cars, guilds, it didn't matter.
Although now we don't have to spend that much money anymore, as having three powerful awakened and a potential starlet shows enough strength.
"What do you think about it?" He asked.
That's a good question. What did I think about it?
I shrugged and said, "I don't like stuff that's too fancy, but if we can afford luxuries, why not use them?"
Ajax thought about my answer for a bit before nodding.
"You don't think that's a bad thing?"
I asked him as he showed no disapproval to my answer.
"Why would it be a bad thing?"
He asked seeming not understanding my question which made me chuckle a bit.
"Some would call me spoiled."
He thought for a second before shaking his head.
"You are a hero of your own making."
He said pretty cryptically.
When I looked at him to ask him to elaborate, he added slightly.
"Even if you had advantages from birth, it doesn't change who you are now."
I was dazed momentarily.
"Wow, that's pretty profound coming from someone as young as you."
I began to laugh at his answers, but I was pretty happy to hear them.
I took out an item from my space ring and handed it to him as I saw he was done with his meal.
"What's this?"
He asked as he inspected the clear glass vial with a pale-yellow liquid inside of it.
"A mana recovery potion."
On hearing this he hesitated for a bit as he handles the vial carefully now.
He was going to say something but stopped and spoke softly.
"Thank you."
Good choice, I wasn't going to just let him stay mana depleted so I would not take no for an answer.
"Careful, it's bitter."
He nodded on hearing my warning before drinking the potion slowly without complaining about the taste.
'Really I don't understand him at all.'
His knowledge about the world was so selective, how did he know that drinking it slower brings greater effect.
Although most people don't do that because of the taste he seemed to be able to handle it just fine.
"Do you feel better?"
He closed his eyes for a moment before nodding.
"Good, so will you tell me why you were mana depleted in the first place?"
He was silent for a bit before he nodded.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I reassured him.
"No, it's fine." He said as he took a deep breath.
For the next 15 minutes I simply listened to him talk, about what had happened the last few days, how he killed his first monster, his fight with a windstepper and even his trip to the caves where he met and was attacked by shriekers.
He seemed uncomfortable about the last story, he said a few but didn't say the exact amount.
He also mentioned slight hallucinations he experienced after the event which made me concerned, but he stopped talking about it immediately as he realized what he had said.
After he was done there was only a silence for a bit.
"I'm sorry that happened to you."
I gave him a sympathetic gaze, but he just nodded as he stared into nothing.
"You understand what you did was dangerous right? Going into a zone with such little combat experience?"
Ajax nodded once again, as if he was tired from speaking so much.
I sighed as I said "Well, I probably shouldn't say this but-"
"Good job."
"What?" Ajax looked over at me in confusion.
"Good job, the windstepper hound thing was clever, thinking on your feet like that and getting over your fear of shriekers isn't an easy thing to do."
He seemed a bit dazed, but I saw a slight smile on his face for a moment again.
"Hey, the money you made is no joke. Killing shriekers? That's going to get you some serious cash."
No one wanted to do it so the reward was quite high.
"In fact..."
I began as I took something out from my storage ring.
"Let's see how much you made."