美国大色妞

I decided to just choose a random meal and have it. There wasn\'t anything, in particular, I wanted to have since my tastes weren\'t exactly that elegant. After telling the guard my order, the waiter came over, taking down our orders. Once the waiter left, the entire table fell dead silent.

Uh...

"So, Aina, how\'s life in the castle?"

"...Ah, it\'s good..."

"So, what do you do all day?"

"I had some dance classes in the morning..."

Well, it sounded like a very royalty-thing to do. This seemed to be similar to a medieval monarchial system. I honestly couldn\'t think of any other conversation starters so I just decided to sit tight as I waited for my food to arrive.

A few minutes later, the entree arrived. It looked to be some sort of very-chewy mashed potato which was plated beside a very small drop of gravy. The plating was articulate but there clearly wasn\'t very much food. I looked over at Aina who seemed to be used to this type of food. From what I could see, the guards weren\'t having anything.

I slowly ate the little snack and left my fork on the plate. I had no idea what the courtesies were so I was a little worried that I was breaking some common manners, although it was too bad since I wasn\'t going to go out and learn them just for this. The waiter came back over and collected our plates as they prepared the next dish.

The next course was a tiny fillet of fish plated beside some very artistically prepared vegetables.

I tried to eat as slowly as possible but I was pretty hungry.

Before long, I had finished my second course and waited for the waiter to collect my plate once again. I didn\'t really know what to do and I wasn\'t getting very full from the tiny portions I was being given.

Whatever the case, I just waited for the third course.

A few minutes later, I was given a small cup with some chocolate mousse and various other toppings. The taste wasn\'t too bad but the portion size definitely left something to be desired. I didn\'t really want to order more so I decided that I\'d just get some more food from somewhere else after this.

Eventually, Aina finished eating as well and looked up at me.

"Well, thank you for the meal," I said to her.

"I-it\'s my pleasure."

I wanted to leave since I was still hungry and wanted to get some food elsewhere. It seemed that Aina didn\'t have anything else to say to me so all of us got up from our table and one of their guards paid the bill for us.

As we made our way back onto the main street, I gave Aina a little wave before slowly walking away. Our meetings were always very awkward and they weren\'t all that enjoyable. I hoped that if we do go out again together, she\'d at least open up a bit more.

We went our separate ways.

The closest food vendor seemed to be someone who was selling meat skewers.

It was an old man. He had a pretty large build, with a thick beard and rough skin. His voice was deep and croaky but somewhat soothing to listen to.

"How are you?"

"I\'m fine."

"How many skewers would you like?"

"Just two for now."

He took three meat skewers off the grill behind his stall.

"Here take another, you\'re a friend of the princess right?"

"I suppose."

It was still steaming, coming just off the grill. The blocks of meat were a deep reddish-brown colour, they look quite tender and appetising. It gave me quite a nostalgic feeling, I guess it was the only type of thing I\'d been eating since I came to this world.

I bit off one of the blocks of meat from the skewer, the rich favour burst into my mouth, it was really tasty, different to the processed food with heaps of seasoning and additives back in my old world. It also had a flavour which was distinct from the plain meat I had been cooking though.

After that much more filling meal, I made my way back to the sword training place to continue my exercises with Laiex.

"Ah you\'re back, Laiex is waiting for you," the old lady told me.

"Oh, thanks," I handed her 60 Krena and made my way into the training room.

Laiex was sitting on the ground, meditating or doing something else. I quietly walked toward him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh! Welcome back... I realised that I don\'t even know your name."

"I\'m William."

"Alright William, let\'s get back into it!"

He got and grabbed a training sword from the side of the room.

"First of all, let\'s warm up."

He showed me a range of different stretched and movements. I tried to copy them the best I could but I still couldn\'t quite keep up. His body was much more toned and strong than mine was and he\'d clearly practised these forms a lot. After a little while, he turned and patted me on the back.

"That\'s the first time someone\'s been able to copy my forms on their first attempt."

Huh?

"Oh, that\'s good then."

"Have you been training elsewhere?"

"Um, I used to mine and chop trees a lot."

"Hm, that doesn\'t really explain your balance and technical skill."

Now that I thought about it, I used to play soccer semi-professionally when I was younger. Although I quit before I got into high school for various reasons. Actually... I can\'t quite remember it... but I think I was in some sort of experimental facility. Mayuri must have taken some of those memories, but I still distinctly remember the harsh conditions of it...

"I don\'t really know why."

"Ah, well whatever the case, I\'d like to get you some sparring practice as soon as possible."

"Ah, alright."

"Usually, I get my students to practice specific forms, but for some reason, you seem to be a really fast learner, I think you might be able to skip that stage entirely."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Yeah, let\'s do some technique practice now, but I want you to spar with one of my top students later, it\'d be good for both of you."