Ero Skill Tree

Chapter 99 - Ninety-Nine: Siofra Arrives

Somehow the three of us managed to eat the meal. We all took longer than Altria, who wolfed the whole thing down quickly, but we managed it. After the main course, it was time to order desert. This time it was only Altria that ordered anything. I had learned my lesson from the first round and wasn't keen on eating anything else from here.

"Aren't you go to order anything?" Asked Altria.

"Oh, no. I can't eat any more. I'm completely full after that." I explained.

Once Altria had finished with her desert, it was time to leave and head back to the guild for the night.

"We should head back. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and I don't want us to be late tonight." Lillia announced once we had paid for the meal.

"Back to guild it is then." Replied Serin.

The four of us left the restaurant and walked back up the street towards the square.

"What did you think of the meal?" Altria asked as we walked.

"Umm, it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was quite surprised by the taste." I replied weakly.

"I know right? It's such an unassuming place, you wouldn't expect them to produce food like that!"

"Very unique."

"We should go again. It's so close and the food is great. There's no reason to go anywhere else."

"I don't know. I think it'd be unfair not to go where the others wanted while we're here."

"They could just go wherever they want and the two of us could eat there together. What do you think?"

"Well, it's my first time to the capital and I'd like to try out as many places as possible. I don't know when we'll be coming again. It would seem a shame not to explore a bit."

"I'm not letting you keep Theo to yourself. We're going to take him somewhere else tomorrow." Lillia said coming to my defence.

I silently mouthed thank you to her. I just couldn't face eating in that place again, let alone for the rest of the time we were here.

"But…" Complained Altria.

"We won't stop you going there, if you want to go alone." Serin offered.

With that the conversation was put to bed. Before long we had walked all the way to the square. It was getting late now, and the square had quietened down quite a bit. There were still some stalls open and people wandering about here and there, but it was nowhere near as busy as when we had set out earlier.

It was a different story inside the guild. It was just as busy as it had been when we left this evening, only now most of the crowd were in the hall drinking away. The noise level was even higher than before.

"I'm going to call it a night and head up to bed. I don't mind if you stay down for a drink, just remember we'll be up early tomorrow and will need to look presentable." Lillia said as we got inside.

"I don't really feel like a drink. I think I'll follow you up." I replied.

"Me too, I feel tired after the journey." Serin said.

Only Altria looked as if she wanted to go and join in with the drinking, but seeing the rest of were heading up she decided to join the us and call it a night a well. We left the noisy hall behind and went straight up to our room. The whole building was full so there were people to be found in almost every corridor, but the noise level was much lower upstairs.

As soon as we got back in the room I lay down on the bed. I hadn't noticed while we were up and about, but I felt pretty tired as well. Being on the road did seem to take it out of you. Even if we had spent most of the time travelling in the carriage. I had only been laid there a moment when Altria climbed on after me.

"Hey Theo…"

"Not while we are staying here." Lillia quickly warned Altria.

"What, why not?" Altria asked, seemingly put out.

"Because the walls here a thin. I can hear the people in the corridor talking. The guild staff know who is staying here. Do you want a rumour to spring up?"

"They won't know if it's you or not."

"That's the problem, we can't let there be any suspicion. For Theo's sake."

"But…"

"She's right Altria. The guild staff know we're here and we have no way of telling who else knows we're here. We just have to be extra careful while we're in the city. You just have to wait." Serin spoke up agreeing with Lillia.

"Fine." Altria agreed, reluctantly.

She rolled off my bed and climbed onto who her own, looking to be in a bit of a sulk. I was glad that Lillia was seeing sense, the last thing I wanted was to be wanted by the royal family. She and Serin were right, there was no telling who knew we were here, or might overhear sounds from our room. I just didn't want to run the risk of drawing that kind of attention.

After that, the four us went to bed and turned out the lights. Celine was still behaving herself, perhaps she had been observing the current situation. Whatever the reason, she didn't try and pay me a visit that night. I soon fell asleep and didn't wake until the morning, when I was woken by the sounds of the others getting up.

"Morning Theo." Serin greeted, as she saw me sit up in bed.

"Oh, morning Serin."

"You should probably start getting ready. We'll need to leave soon."

"Right okay."

"Did you bring the clothes I gave you?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Good. It's probably best if you wear those. We'll be heading to the shrine and I don't think adventurer gear will look appropriate."

"Yeah, I did wonder about that. That's why I brought them with me."

Serin wasn't wearing anything overly formal like the dress she wore to the party back in Dunshelm, but she was smart. She wore an outfit similar to the one I'd first saw her in, back when she came to visit Beth's shop.

Lillia and Altria both wore smarter clothes than their usual adventurers gear, but neither of them had gone with trousers. They seemed to prefer keeping to dresses and despite their standing they were both revealing much more than Serin's outfit did. I quickly changed into my smart clothes and once I was ready, we headed down as a group. It was getting close to the time we were supposed to meet Siofra and make our way to the shrine place.

We found the guild was just as busy as the previous day when we got downstairs. There was a press of people trying to get to the main desk and the hall was full of people having breakfast. There was hardly any room to move. It was going to be difficult to spot Siofra in this crowd.

"Do you think we should wait outside? It might be easier to meet up that way." I asked after scanning the crowd for her.

"You could be right, but I did tell her to meet us here in front of the desk. She should be here by now. I don't want to pass her in the crowd and have to come back inside to look for her." Lillia explained while glancing over the crowd.

As we spoke, I noticed someone pushing their way through the crowd and heading in our direction. As the people parted in front of us, I instantly recognised who it was. A moment later Siofra stepped out and came bounding towards me. She enthusiastically threw herself at me, I would have been bounced backwards from the impact of her chest against me, if she hadn't immediately wrapped her arms around me.

"Ah Theo, I missed you!" She told me, while hugging me tightly.

"I missed you too." I said, struggling to get the air into my lungs to reply.

"Have you been looking after yourself? I hope nothing has happened since we last saw each other."

"I've been fine. We haven't been apart for long enough for anything to happen. I was barely back in town for a few days before we left for here."

"Good."

"How have you been?"

"Okay, a little lonely since you left."

"Well, the whole party is back together now."

"Yes… Shouldn't we make a move? We don't want to be late to the shrine. Have you all eaten yet?" Siofra asked looking at the rest of the group for the first time since she arrived.

"We should get going. No, we haven't eaten yet, we were waiting for you." Answered Lillia.

"What do you want to do, stop in here?"

"I was thinking of stopping at a food stall on the way. It's so busy in here, it will take too long to get served. We'll end up being late."

"Okay, then let's go."

Siofra grabbed my arm and pulled me along pressing it against her chest as she went. She strode for the exit. The rest of the girls rolled their eyes, but followed along behind us without saying anything.