After 20 minutes of wait Karl finally sees Andressa in a distance. She is wearing a long-flared trousers on a loose sweater. Her hairs are neatly combed and set back. Revealing her full face. Karl stares at her face for a second.
She smiles at Karl. "Hey."
"Hello, you look good in these clothes."
"Thanks."
Karl leans in closer. "And show your face often. You look cute." Andressa makes a flustered expression.
"Anyways, I am super hungry. We should eat something." Andressa nods.
They take the elevator and go up few floors. "Do you know any famous restaurants?" Karl asks.
"Yes. On the 9th floor there is this super famous restaurant. It serves best eyes of batnap."
'E-Eye?' Karl hesitantly smiles and follows Andressa choice. She took Karl to a French style restaurant. As expected, it is mostly empty. They sat down a random table. A waiter comes up and hands them the menu. Karl takes the menu.
'What the hell is this? Heart of the nile panda?' He genuinely scared and puts the menu down.
"What happened? You face looks like you just saw a ghost." Andressa jokes.
"N-Nothing. Take this menu and order whatever you want. My treat."
"Really?" Karl nods aggressively. Andressa calls the waiter and says some weird names. The waiter writes something down and disappears. Karl is having panic attacks by just thinking about the food.
"You have enough money, right?" Andressa asks.
"What do you mean by that?"
"This place is quite expensive, you know?"
"Oh? Then, don't worry about that."
"If you say so." Andressa looks away and the conversation quickly dies. Karl is playing with his new watch. Andressa is waiting for Karl to initiate the conversation. At the end nobody talks and time passes. Andressa is now really nervous. For her, this is an actual date with no other than the person she likes. She really wants to have a good first date. But this idiot is not paying any attention to her.
Frustrated, she talks. "I forgot to ask, but did you tried contact to Serena after returning to the academy?"
Karl looks up. "Not interested and never going to try it."
Andressa is surprised by that sudden response. 'Did something happen between these two?'
Karl stops playing with his watch as that horrible day he spent with Serena plays back in his head, but an important memory flashes too. "I completely forgot about this." He opens his void storage and reveals a compass.
"What's this?" Andressa asks.
"Well-" Karl tells her about the dead adventurer's daughter and her letter. After the explanation, Andressa's eyes are watery.
"Are you crying?"
"Of course! Her father died and she doesn't even know it. You are going to return this right?"
Karl looks at the compass like artefact. "Yes, without this compass I would have died in that desert due to heat stroke. It saved my life giving this back and informing her about her father is the least I can do."
Andressa stares at the Karl.
"What?" he asks.
"You know, since you lost your memories. You became a different person or a very confusing person who is sometimes cold, sometimes reliable or something completely idiot. I couldn't recognize you, but seeing you helping an unknown girl reminds me that you are still the Leo that I know since we were little." Andressa smiles.
Karl's heart skips a beat. 'Why aren't you a sexy, big breasted female lead? I would love you willingly.' He curses his fate.
Just then, the waiter comes with the food. The food is served and it looks like a regular steak with some kind sauce on it. Karl grabs his knife and cuts the steak; it reveals a blueish meat. He looks up and sees Andressa eating the meat happily. With slightly shaking hands, he puts a piece of substance into his mouth. 'It tastes like overcooked chicken, edible I guess?'
Few minutes, later the plates on the table are empty. Karl asks for the bill and hands his card to the waiter. "Do you think the girl still lives in this city?" Andressa asks.
"Yeah. I have been observing this compass and it always moved to one side and came back to it's original position. Which means that the girl went somehere and came back home."
Andressa grabs the compass and observes it. The red pin is not moving. Waiter came back with the card.
"Anyhow I am going to find that girl, you in?" Karl asks.
Andressa quickly raises her thumb. They get up from their seats and exits the restaurant. Andressa suggests going out of the mall. Karl agrees. Once outside, Karl checks the compass, it points to the left direction. They follow that direction. The sun is going down and the darkness takes over the sky.
"Have you called Layla yet?" Andressa suddenly asks.
'Layla? Oh. Leonard's younger sister.'
"No. I didn't."
"You should. She is always worry about you. She. She deserves to know about your limited days?"
Karl smiles. "Do you think I will die?"
"No! Never. It's just. Your sister-"
Karl chuckles. "Don't be so tense. I was joking and I don't plan on telling her about my shortened lifespan."
"Why not?"
"Something tells me inside that she will be extremely sad and anxious. I don't want that. I want her to be happy."
Andressa's sees the face of young Leonard. "Leo-"
Karl cuts Andressa. "It moved!" The pin moved slightly to the right.
"We must be close. Come on!" Karl takes Andressa's hand and runs. The pin slowly drifts towards the right. Then, it points straight ahead. A large building. It has around 50 floors. The pin is pointing straight at the building.
"Can we even go inside?" Karl asks.
"No idea."
Both of them goes to the main gate and sees a guard. "Okay. Look I have a plan-"
A girl comes running from inside, she stops and looks around frantically. She sees Karl holding the compass. "Where did you find that? Where is my dad?"
The girl quickly tries to snatch the compass but Karl puts it away in the void storage. From the looks alone, that girl seems to be around 13-14 years old.
"Mesta! Mesta!" An old looking woman comes running. "Don't do that!"
The woman places her hand on her daughter to calm her down. "I am very sorry kids. This girl just ran off saying dad is here. I am sorry for the inconvenience that she caused you." Andressa steps forward.
"Actually-" She briefly explains Karl's journey and her husband's death.
The woman breaks down in tears and the girl turns silent. Andressa consoles the woman. "I-I told him not to go. It was Mesta's birthday. B-But he insisted on going telling it would be a short mission."
Seeing her mother cry the little girl's gets eyes gets watery. Karl kneels besides the girl and pats her.
"You are a brave girl, right?"
The girl nods.
"Now, you are the only who can take care of mom. So don't cry."
The girl looks up and smiles. "I-I am not crying!" Tears are clearly falling from her eyes.
"Yes. Become strong and protect your mother." Karl's hand glows and he hands the compass to the girl. Then, he stands up.
"Mister. Was my father strong?" The girl holds Karl's uniform.
"No. He wasn't. That's why you must become stronger and protect your mother." Karl says it with zero hesitation.
"LEO!" Andressa snaps.
After few minutes the mother calms down. She offers Karl and Andressa to come for her husband's funeral which they agree. After few trivial conversations Karl and Andressa bids farewell to the mother. They are currently walking with no destination in mind.
"Well, my shopping is incomplete. Do you have any place in mind where I can buy cheap armour and some clothes." Karl asks.
Andressa smirks. "Leave it to me."
Andressa took Karl to a different smaller mall. It has less stores in it too. "So, what are we buying?" Andressa asks with sparkles in her eyes.
"Clothes." They enter a clothing shop where Karl tried atleast 50 different casual clothes. But queen Andressa only approved 12 of them. Just as Karl takes his card out, Andressa asks "Let me do it."
With card in hand Andressa goes to the billing counter. Once there the staff scans every cloth and generates the final bill which is 1890 red photons.
Andressa smiles very widely and asks. "Any discount?"
The staff which is a middle aged aunty also smiles very widely and answers. "No mam."
The aunty tries to grab the card and Andressa pulls it back. "I am a regular you know?"
"Mam, our policies don't provide any discounts."
"Oh, they should. Ask the manager I know her."
Seeing the intense battle between these two women Karl facepalms himself. 'Women.'
After 10 minutes if arguments the staff finally gave the discount and the final bill came to be 1500 red photons. Andressa is celebrating her victory while Karl is lifting all the bags.
She turns around. "I did good right? Praise me!"
"Yes, yes. You are the best. I am glad to exist in your presence." Karl praises in a sloppy voice.
Smiling, she wraps her hand around Karl and asks "Now where?"
"I need some armour." Karl answers not thinking too much.
Andressa thinks for a second and explains. "We are going to buy some normal armour without enchantments as it is banned to wear those in the tournament." Karl nods.
Andressa and Karl takes the stairs to go to the second floor. Here, atmosphere is bit serious and the shops give off a vintage vibe. Andressa and Karl walks into a random armoury.
There is an old man sitting on the counter, he stands up as customer walks in. "Hello! Welcome to the Neel armoury we provide top quality armours. So, how may I help our cute couple?"
Andressa quickly turns red, she releases Karl's hand and tries to explain to the shopkeeper. On the other hand, Karl looks around and sees various armours belonging to different eras are in the same room.
"Haha! My apologies. I may have predicted the future." He says in a mischievous tone.
"W-What!" Andressa makes a flustered expression.
Seeing Andressa's reaction the old man laughs. "Haha! Must be good to be young. Now, I guess this gentleman needs an armour for himself." He looks at Karl.
"Yes."
"Then, do you have any ore in mind? Is it full plate? Or the classic chainmail?" Karl who is overwhelmed by the questions looks at Andressa for help.
"Hmm. He needs a armour with lots of mobility. So, the metal must be light but durable. Not need to be fullplate as long as it can protect the vital areas. Chainmail is a must and lastly, no enchantments."
The shopkeeper listens to Andressa's description and opens a draw. He takes out a small piece of metal. "Here, it is a small piece of dilithium. It is light and durable."
Karl takes the metal piece tries to bend it. But it doesn't move at all. "Okay, we take it."
"Thank you for choosing us. Let me take your measurements." The old man takes Karl's measurement and gives the receipt of the order.
Apparently, the order would take 2 days to be completed and it will be delivered directly to Karl's dorm. Karl hands his card and pays the bill. With this they complete their shopping, just one thing remains.
"Andressa!" Karl calls for her but she doesn't answer. Karl touches her shoulder.
"What?"
"I was calling your name. why aren't you answering?" Karl asks.
"I was just thinking about something."
Karl remains silent for few seconds and asks. "Do you have anything to say?"
"Why did you say that to Mesta?" Andressa stops and asks.
"What?"
"That her father was weak."
"He was."
"How could you? Atleast you could have just lied for the sake of her dad."
"Then, what? So, that she would grow up thinking that her father was a great adventurer? World isn't that kind. Telling her the truth will motivate her to be better than her father and she needs that now the most."
Andressa makes an annoyed expression and proceeds to walk ahead. Karl watches her go downstairs.
'She is too dramatic.' That was Karl's initial thought but something inside Karl made him run behind her. At the end of the stairs Karl seeing Andressa standing, looking ahead.
"Hey! I said too-" Just as he was about apologize, he sees Mikaela walking towards him.