A loud burst from the end of the table shakes me back. "I guess I should be saying good job defeating him or whatever. Anyway, here is your reward for your soldiers and help. My advice is, Train some guys that aren't as weak as klum."
He slams a large leather bag on the table with a clang and storms out the door. The cat lady who has been standing behind us speaks up in a nervous tone,
"I don't mean to speak out of line, but the people are worn down; I think it would be wiser to spend more of this payment on the people."
and she quietly slinks away with her head down, as if expecting to be punished for saying such a thing. As I still shouldn't say anything, I just gave her a nod. She seemed surprised by that; her eyes lit up, and her ears rose slightly more than before.
The people who wore this armor must not have treated her well. I feel bad leaving this town like this, but we can't even speak, let alone run a whole city. The maid with the cat ears seems confused about why we are still sitting, so she says,
"Your meals should be done by now."
She ushers us out the door with her hands. I stand up from my chair relatively fast with the thoughts of today on my mind rather than how to act appropriately.
The scratch of wood against stone and me standing up suddenly scared the poor maid with cat ears, and she broke her pose and started fumbling backward. I felt immediately bad for startling her; she must have had a terrible time with this guy.
Just as I was about to walk out the door, I heard an even quieter "Ummm." I looked over to see the maid hunched over shyly and pointing back at the table where a leather bag still sat. I hurriedly rushed back, snatched it up, and tucked it away in a fold in my armor.
We enter a large, well-lit room made of stone, with several large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, but instead of candles, a small crystal shines where candles should be, creating a small bright flame above it.
A large, almost doughnut-shaped table with a small opening cut out of one side and a smaller table in the middle with a tall silver platter of what looks like deserts; more maids are standing around the table as if a significant function was going to occur.
Two other maids approached me; Erica and I noticed that most of the maids had some animal features. The maids that come up to us quietly gesture to two large seats at the end of the table; as we sit, other maids put plates of food in front of us. and that's when it hit me, How can I not seem rude but not eat simultaneously!?
I am famished; I haven't eaten in probably two days, and Erica is perhaps the same- As I look over at her, I see her raising her mask just slightly and wolfing down the plate of food like a cat eating a fish.