Pater walked down the road, not sure how exactly he was supposed to behave.
In theory, his task was filled with dangers. As soon as someone were to recognize him or even consider his actions to be too peculiar to just ignore, his life would be over.
'There is no way I will be able to run from people that can make Theo that worried,' Pater thought while heaving a long, deep sigh.
The young man then shook his head before speeding up his pace a bit.
'Well, there's no one in the whole wide world who would recognize me,' he thought, a wry smile appearing on his face.
Pater rolled his eyes.
'To think that a time came when I would be more than happy to have yet to gain the right to use a name,' he thought, the wry smile dancing on his lips as he continued down the road, heading straight for the local branch of the Imperial Express.
Soon, the young man reached the impressive entrance of the building. Despite how narrow and generally small it was when compared to the other branches Pater saw in his life, the architects that made the blueprint for it somehow managed to use just a few meters of the space at the entrance to still make it one hell of an impressive area.
'This is our third visit to the company in just the last few days,' Pater thought, struggling to shake off the worry that was brought to his mind. 'But is it really all that good of an idea to put all of our eggs in just a single basket?'
There was no denying how much Imperial Express's cooperation helped their group. Without their support, they likely would never even make it out from the Imperial city to begin with!
Still, judging how careful Theo was with interacting with this place right now…
'Welp, it's not for me to decide the course of our actions,' Pater thought, heaving another sigh only to raise his chin and confidently step forward, ignoring the grandeur that the architects of this building somehow evoked while using only a few square meters of space in front of the building.
It was small.
'No, that's the wrong way to put it. It's smaller than the last one,' Pater thought, trying not to let the magnitude of the branch get to his head.
"How may I help you, young sir?" the receptionist by the entrance took Pater by surprise, nearly making him jump in place and showcase his nervousness for all the other customers to see.
"I…" Pater hesitated for a second, struggling to get the words out of his tightened throat. Yet, as he took a few breaths to calm down and locked his eyes on the receptionist's kind, welcoming smile, he managed to take the reins of both his emotions and his actions and step ahead.
"I'm sorry for freaking out like this. It's my first time," Pater said, scratching the side of his head as he approached the reception counter.
"It's okay, it's okay," the receptionist's smile turned brighter, pushing away the signs of extreme exhaustion visible at the bottom of the receptionist's eyes. "Regardless of what brings you here, we are here to help, so there is no need for you to be nervous."
'It's just like he said,' Pater forced a sigh of exasperation down his throat.
Even though Theo never really had the chance to get used to interacting with the imperial express, he somehow predicted perfectly how they would react if he played along with the act he suggested.
'The moment someone is finally able to start dealing with the Imperial Express, their social status instantly elevates,' Pater thought, recalling Theo's words. 'After all, a random street vendor would never have the means to conduct business with them! So, as long as you act all nervous and slightly excited at the opportunity, they should treat you like a kid who's happy to raise himself to a new level.'
"So, how can I help you, sweetie?" the receptionist asked while gracing Pater with a smile so bright it could kill any creatures of the night lurking in the shadows.
"I…" Pater lowered his eyes while puffing his cheeks out while at the same time tensing his jaws, stopping his cheeks from expanding.
It was a small trick that near instantly forced more blood into his face, creating a blush that anyone could easily mistake for something born out of embarrassment.
"I'm really sorry to bother, but I was tasked to bring this letter here," Pater spoke, reaching out to the inner side of his simple clothes before pulling out an open envelope that he then brought down to the counter and pushed towards the receptionist.
"Oh?" the girl's smile flickered for but a second as she reached out and grabbed the envelope before using her long, elegant fingers to pull out the letter from its package.
The girl's face changed as she scanned the content of the letter, the excitement of dealing with a newbie dying nearly on the spot.
"This is…" the girl whispered, her expression souring a tiny little bit.
It was a change so subtle, Pater would easily miss it if he didn't focus his entire attention on the girl's face.
The girl raised her eyes… Only to see Pater squirm on the spot, unable to stay still out of all the nervousness that the blush on his face betrayed.
"Haaa…" the receptionist heavily exhaled before putting the letter back on the counter and raising her eyes to look at the nervous applicant again. "So, your business is…?"
'Now for the hardest part,' Pater thought, alternating between tensing up and relaxing his muscles. And as he tensed up the facial muscles around his eyes to their limit, tears started to slowly squeeze out from the corner of his eyes.
"Huh?" Pater jumped slightly on the spot, his efforts bringing forth an even more intense shade of red all over his face.
"Huh?" the girl uttered the same, shocked sound that Pater did, clearly not expecting his reaction to be so intense.
"I… I w-was supposed to just follow whoever would come to pick me up, before bringing them to my master, out in the docks…" Peter stumbled with his words. He held nothing back, putting every last bit of his acting talent to use to portray himself as a mere handyman who was now faced with challenges he never expected to encounter.
'Thank Gods I only needed to recite what Theo told me to. There's no way I could come up with something equally as believable on the spot!'
Pater raised his eyes as if to see how much he screwed up…
Only to see the look of slight suspicion vanish from the receptionist's face, replaced with slight amusement and a strange look of… desire to protect?
"I see," she said while breathing out a small sigh of relief. She then looked down at the letter again before falling deep into her thoughts for a short moment.
Then, the receptionist's face twitched when she shook herself awake only to smile brightly and raise her eyes to Pater while pushing the letter in the envelope back to his side of the counter. "Mister Ka'Lahr will be with you shortly."